Guardians of the Watchtowers
by cerridwen10
Summary: Yami/Yugi fic. The Guardians were powerful shapeshifters from another world. Here's what happens when they break the laws of their world by falling in love with a human...
1. New Students

This fic is kinda AU-ish. The Millennium items don't exist, and neither does the game Duel Monsters. But the monsters may pop up from time to time.Since I only watch the English version, I don't know any of the Japanese names. Soooo..Yami Marik will be called Marius, and Yami Bakura will be called Bakurian. Okey dokes? Yami Yugi will just be called Yami (as usual). I hope this doesn't confuse anyone.  
  
This is going to be a Yami/Yugi fic, so if you don't like, then don't read! I'll try my hand at fluff, though this is my first Yami/Yugi fic. I figured I'd try my hand at one since they seem like such a popular couple. ;) But I DO NOT do lemons! So sorry about that.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh (duh!). And I kinda got this idea from LJ Smith's Nightworld series.  
  
"blah" = speaking, /blah/ = thoughts Ok.on with the fic! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 1: New Students  
  
It was late at night. The dark streets of Domino City were eerily silent, except for the thump of heavy boots hitting the pavement. A lone man in a long trench coat walked easily along the street, a bloodied dagger in his hand. He had just come from killing his two-timing girlfriend, no- EX girlfriend, and her worthless lover. He felt proud of himself. No one cheats on him, and lives to tell about it.  
  
Suddenly, he heard a low growl from behind him. He whirled around, his eyes bulging with surprise as he spotted two wolves standing behind him, their lips pulled back in a ferocious snarl. He gulped a little as he saw their gleaming eyes, one pair crimson red, one pair golden yellow. Timidly, he glanced down at the dagger in his hand. One he could take, but two? No, he'd have a better chance at running. Wolves can't be that fast, right? Another low growl caused him to look up, and he watched with horror as the wolves took one step closer to him. They were advancing. Terror took over him, and he turned and bolted. He didn't dare look back. He turned into an alleyway, but as soon as he did, he realized it was a mistake: two more wolves blocked his path, teeth bared. The man gulped again and turned around, hoping to retreat back, but saw that the first two wolves were right behind him. His eyes widened in terror as the four wolves advanced, his dagger dropping from him sweaty grasp. He didn't even have time to scream. **************************  
  
A crisp, winter wind nipped at Yugi Muto's small form, and he pulled his coat tighter around himself. The second semester of school was starting, but things would be different, Yugi thought sadly. His three close friends, Tea, Joey, and Tristan, were all on a foreign exchange program to America. They would be gone the entire semester. Yugi already missed them a lot.  
  
"Yugi! Hey Yugi!" a voice called out to him.  
  
Yugi looked up, smiling as he saw his two other friends, Bakura and Marik, running towards him. "Hey guys! How are you doing?"  
  
Bakura and Marik fell in step beside him. "Did you hear about what happened last night?" Marik asked excitedly.  
  
Yugi shook his head. "No. What happened?"  
  
"A man was found gruesomely murdered in an alleyway! And get this, there were bloody paw prints all around the body!"  
  
Yugi's eyes widened. "You mean to tell me a dog killed him?" he asked incredulously.  
  
"Not exactly," Bakura said. "The paw prints were too large to be from a normal dog. The police think it might have been a WOLF, and maybe more than one, too. You know wolves always travel in packs."  
  
"Wolves?" Yugi repeated. "Whoa.no way."  
  
"And that wasn't the only murder last night," Marik said. "Two more bodies were found in a house nearby. But police say they were stabbed. A bloodied knife was found with the first guy, so police are gonna see in the blood matches or not."  
  
"Whoa." Yugi said again. "Awful way to start a new semester, isn't it?"  
  
The two other boys nodded. Suddenly Bakura brightened. "But hey, good news is there's a special assembly this morning for the new foreign exchange students."  
  
Yugi smiled. "That's right. We should get to the Assembly Hall then, so we can get good seats." The three boys took off towards the hall. *************************  
  
"Why are we here again?" complained a teen with pointy white hair for what seemed like the hundredth time.  
  
"Because," replied a girl, flipping her dark, red streaked hair over one shoulder, "this is where the Elders said the Illuminites would be." She was beginning to get annoyed.  
  
"Watch out Bakurian," a sandy-blonde haired boy said. "You remember the LAST time you upset Raven." He slapped his hands together. "WHAM! You were pinned so fast to the wall that-"  
  
"Oh shut up, Marius!" cut Bakurian. "I can take you on any day!" His dark brown eyes glistened dangerously.  
  
"Enough," Raven said. "Now is not the time. The old fool is almost done talking." She looked out from behind the curtain at the bald man standing at a podium.  
  
"Finally," muttered another boy. He had red tipped black hair with blond streaks in them. He brushed back his blonde bangs from his face, something he always did when he was impatient. "Do all principals talk this long?"  
  
Raven smirked. "Probably, Yami. "Old guys ALWAYS like to drone on about nothing."  
  
".And here are the new foreign exchange students, all the way from America!" the principal was saying. He turned and motioned for them to come out. "Come on, don't be shy!" he said cheerfully. He smiled like an idiot, an over-eager idiot to be exact.  
  
"I'd like to rip his cheerful little vocal box out." Bakurian muttered. Raven shot him a look, which shut him up immediately.  
  
There was loud clapping from the students as they walked out towards the stage. As she was walking, Raven felt a faint energy of some sort. Her golden eyes swept over the sea of students, trying to pinpoint it. No luck. She glanced over at Yami. He looked back at her and nodded. He had felt it too, but also had no luck pinpointing it. They would have to look further into it later.  
  
The principal introduced them one by one by name. "So, would you like to say anything to your new fellow students? Anything at all?"  
  
"Not really," Raven said in a bored toned. She wanted to go find that energy source, and was getting irritated by the man's cheerful voice. She could see why Bakurian felt the need to kill him.  
  
"Well, that's ok then," the principal said, ever so cheerfully. "There's no harm in being shy!"  
  
The four teens rolled their eyes, and shared a look of disgust at the man's continued cheerfulness. 'Humans' they all thought distastefully.  
  
The principal looked at their clothes. "I'm afraid the black leather outfits, as 'hip' as they are, will have to go. School uniforms are simply a must! And young lady," he said, looking at Raven, "that pierced stud in your nose must go! It's unfit for a young lady like yourself." He looked pointedly at the diamond stud in her nose.  
  
Raven raised an eyebrow. "I don't think so," was all she said.  
  
The principal shook his head, his expression growing serious with authority. "That's not a request, my dear." The cheerfulness in his voice was gone. He looked at them over the top of his thick glasses.  
  
"We'll dress as we please," came Yami's cool, deep voice that said the discussion was over.  
  
Raven smirked as she shook her head. Stupid man. Like he could tell them what to do. The four teens turned and walked back off of the stage. They gathered their bags and left the building, leaving behind a very shocked principal. ***********************  
  
At lunch that day everyone was talking about the new students. They had refused to do what the principal said! In front of the entire school!  
  
"They look like trouble to me," said one boy.  
  
"Yeah!" agreed another. "All you have to do is look at them, and can tell they mean trouble. Why else would they dress in black leather?"  
  
"I bet they caused lots of trouble back home," said another. "That's probably why they got sent here, to get rid of them!"  
  
The first boy laughed. "Yeah, trouble-causing Americans. How typical."  
  
Yugi was sitting with Bakura and Marik. He looked to his side and noticed the four new students sitting alone together, away from anyone else. People seemed to be avoiding them. With a sigh, Yugi turned back to his friends. "Isn't it strange how those three guys look a lot like us?"  
  
Bakura nodded. "Yes. I've noticed it too. But they look.darker some what, wouldn't you agree?"  
  
The three turned to stare at them. Yugi cocked his head curiously at them. Something wasn't right here, but even so, Yugi felt a strange need to get closer to the one named Yami. He wondered what they were talking about. ***********************  
  
Raven was idly flipping through an old spell book, annoyed that she hadn't found that energy source. /It's out there some where/ she thought. Suddenly, she felt it again, and snapped her head up. Her gaze was immediately drawn to three boys sitting together, not far from where she was. She raised an eyebrow as she saw their uncanny likeness to the three guys sitting near her. Reaching out, she poked Yami on his arm. When he turned to look at her, she lifted her chin towards the three boys. "What do you think of that?"  
  
Yami looked in the direction of her gaze. His eyes widened when he saw the boy whose hair almost matched his own. His two friends also bared the similar looks of Bakurian and Marius. "Could they be the Illuminites?" he asked, his crimson eyes growing dark as he narrowed them.  
  
"I'm not sure," Raven replied. "The Elders never said anything about them "looking" like us. And another thing: there are only three of them. I don't exactly see a double of myself walking around."  
  
Marius caught the last of that. "A double of you, Raven? I sure hope not." He snickered. "One of you is enough!" His dark grey eyes flashed mischievously.  
  
Bakurian snickered as well.  
  
Raven rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up you two and look over there." She waved her hand in Yugi's direction.  
  
Both boys looked. "What?!" Bakurian cried. "Doubles of us. I don't believe this!"  
  
"Suspicious, isn't it?" Raven agreed. "Here's the plan. You and Marius will get close to your "doubles". Find out if they could be two of the four Illuminites. They seem to be buddies anyways." She watched as Yugi and his friends stood up to leave. "In the meantime, Yami and I will get to know the little one, as well as trying to find if there is a fourth. And who that person is. Any questions?"  
  
They all shook their heads.  
  
"Good," Raven said. "And if they are the Illuminites.then we'll kill them," she whispered dangerously, her golden eyes glinting with the anticipations of the kill. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Okay, done! I hope it wasn't too boring.Please review and thanks for reading! Oh, since I'm working on another project, I won't update for like a month. Sorriez. 


	2. Unlikely Rescuers

Whew! I made my deadline of one month. Yay me! :D Disclaimer: No. I don't own Yugioh. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter 2: Unlikely Rescuers  
  
Yugi walked out of the crowded hallway and into the bright rays of the sun. He breathed a sigh of relief. First day of classes were always dull, and he was glad it was finally over. He wandered over to the swimming pool area, wondering what to do. Usually, he'd hang out with his friends, but since they were gone.  
  
Yugi set his backpack on the ground next to him, and knelt down. He lightly swirled his hand in the pool's cool water, making gentle ripples in the water as he did. Smiling wistfully at his reflection in the water, Yugi thought of the new exchange students, particularly the one who so closely resembled himself. He still couldn't place his need to get to know him. Perhaps his close likeness to him intrigued him so. Yes, that must be it. He must be intrigued. Yugi thought for a moment on this, then shook his head in dismay. No, there was something more than just satisfying his curiosity. The air of mystery around Yami.excited him like nothing else could. Even now, just thinking of him, Yugi could feel the excitement, the anxiety, and the anticipation of solving that mystery bubbling up inside of him. Yugi smiled at his reflection in the water.  
  
Yugi's eyes widened in surprise when he saw that his reflection was joined by three others. Gulping, he slowly turned around and stared up into the three faces of the school's meanest bullies. One had a wicked scar across his face; another was missing a few teeth in the front. Their leader wore a dark bandana tight around his head, and was grinning widely. "So little Yugi, looks like you don't have you buddies to protect you any more." He cracked his knuckles together. "Pity."  
  
"Nice bag ya got there." Scar Boy said. He laughed as he snatched it from the ground, then ran off a little ways. His two buddies followed.  
  
"Hey!" Yugi yelled. He jumped up, then ran after the three boys. "Give that back!" He tried reaching for it, but Scar Boy tossed it over to Toothless, who was standing behind Yugi. He caught it easily with a grin. When Yugi tried to get it from him, he lobbed it over to Bandana Head. The boys had formed a wide triangle around Yugi. This game of keep away continued for awhile, until Yugi exhausted himself. Panting out of both exhaustion and anger, Yugi glared at Toothless, who was the current holder of his bag. He grinned, showing his missing teeth. "Aww, what's the matter? Is the baby gonna cry? Boo hoo!" He flung the bag back over to Bandana Head. But before he could catch it, an arm shot out in front of him and caught it instead. Bandana Head's mouth dropped open in surprise as he stared into angry crimson eyes.  
  
"Don't you know it's not nice to pick on those smaller than you? Isn't that right, Raven?" He tossed the bag over to her, who was now standing in between Toothless and Scar Boy.  
  
She caught it easily. "Yes. Because sooner or later, someone's going to come and pick on YOU." She smiled wickedly. "And I can guarantee you, it will be MUCH worse for you." She flung the bag back to Yami.  
  
He caught it, then walked towards the center of the bullies' triangle, where Yugi was staring, eyes wide, mouth open, at his unlikely rescuers. Smiling gently, Yami handed Yugi his bag, which he took gratefully. Yami turned back towards Bandana Head. "Leave. Now." He put emphasis on the second word.  
  
Raven raised an eyebrow at this. Normally, Yami was more than eager to fight. Usually too eager. What had caused this sudden change? Her golden eyes flicked to the small boy next to him. Hmm.could this boy have some how curved Yami's violent nature? She'd have to talk to Yami about this later.  
  
Bandana Head's mind was still reeling at the unthinkable interference of these new students. Didn't they realize who he was? He was the most feared bully at school! A low growl escaped his throat. He'd show them that nobody bossed him around. "Or what?" he growled out. He gave the pointy haired boy his best death glare.  
  
Yami rolled his eyes, obviously unimpressed. On the other hand, Yugi widened his eyes in fear. When Bandana Head got that look, it usually meant a serious beating was about to take place. Yugi glanced worriedly at Yami, then touched him lightly on his arm. Yami looked down at Yugi in response. "Maybe we should go.before things get out of hand." He said this almost pleadingly. He didn't like seeing people getting hurt.  
  
"Oh no, you're not going anywhere little Yugi!" Scar Boy said menacingly. "We're not done with you yet!" He charged at Yugi, fist raised. But he never even got close to Yugi, for Raven had stepped in between them. She grabbed his wrist and neatly flipped him onto his back. Scar Boy grunted as he slammed into the ground. He looked dazedly at the dark haired girl hovering over him. "Stay down and live," she muttered quietly to him before turning away. Scar Boy's eyes rolled back as he fainted.  
  
Toothless looked at the girl in shock. She was strong! And she looked like she wasn't done either. A small gasp escaped him as she turned her gaze towards him. Her eyes were glittering dangerously, and that was more than enough to send him bolting the other way, especially after what she had just done to his bud.  
  
Yami smiled as he looked at Bandana Head. "Looks like it's two against one now. Still feeling like being a tough guy?" He narrowed his eyes at the bully.  
  
Bandana Head was getting nervous. He didn't like his odds.  
  
Yami was tired of waiting. "I'm going to give you till three until I make my move. One."  
  
As soon as the word was out of his mouth, Bandana Head turned and bolted. He didn't like his dangerous tone.  
  
Yami and Raven shared a smirk at his cowardice. So much for being Mr. Tough Guy. Yami looked at Yugi. "Are you okay?"  
  
Yugi nodded, still a bit stunned at how seemingly easy the bullies had been taken care of. "Th-Thank you," he said shakily.  
  
"Not a problem.Yugi." Yami thought that was what Scar Boy had called him.  
  
Yugi nodded at the correct name.  
  
"I'm Yami and this is Raven."  
  
"We should get out of here." Raven glanced down at the unconscious Scar Boy. "Before Bandana Head returns with some friends of his." /Not that we couldn't take care of them/ she added silently to herself. But she again sensed that Yami preferred not to show his violent side to the boy. Intriguing.  
  
"Raven's right. Yugi, would you like to hang out at our place? We could get to know each other."  
  
"Really? That'd be great!" Yugi said a little too excitedly. He hadn't expected that he'd be able to talk with Yami so soon. But he really had to calm down a bit.  
  
Yami laughed at the boy's excitement. Though he wasn't too sure why he was so excited.  
  
"Let's go then." Raven led the way to her car, stopping only to pick up her and Yami's bags, which they had dropped when they had heard the bullies' taunts. She threw the bags into the backseat of a sleek wicked looking black car, then hopped into the driver's seat. Yugi climbed into the backseat, and Yami sat in the passenger seat up front. Raven started up the engine and quickly drove out of the parking lot.  
  
The car ride was silent, no one really knowing what to say. At last, Raven pulled into the parking lot of a ritzy-looking apartment complex, where she easily parked in front of the largest building, next to a shiny red motorcycle. She got out of the car, got the bags, then slammed the door shut. Yami and Yugi were also out. Raven hit a button on the little device on her keychain. The doors locked with a loud click, and a distinctive beep- beep was heard. Raven turned and followed Yami and Yugi, who were already heading towards the building. They walked inside, waved hello to the security guard, boarded the elevator, and took another silent ride.  
  
Yugi gazed around the luxurious building through the clear walls of the elevator. /They live *here*?/ he thought in amazement. /Not bad for exchange students. I wonder who their host families are./  
  
A loud ding! told them that they were at the floor. Yugi was surprised that they were at the very top floor of the apartment. Pent houses. Where the really wealthy lived. It was kinda like having your own private mini-house. As Yugi silently followed them down the hall, he glanced back behind him, noticing only one door. A glance ahead of him also only revealed one door. Whoa. One floor with only two doors, the elevator in between.  
  
When they reached the end of the hallway, Yami took out a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. Yugi expected to find more richy- type stuff inside, and was totally surprised to find himself in dark surroundings. He blinked a few times, trying to adjust his eyes to the darkness. "Uhh.where are the lights?"  
  
Yami smiled slightly as he moved past Yugi to a small table near the door. Striking a match, he lit a dark candle on it. As soon as he did, hundreds of other candles lit up around the entire place, casting an eerie illumination on everything. Yugi's eyes widened in surprise. "H-How did you do that?" he asked, completely amazed.  
  
"Magick," Yami said with a shrug. "We prefer using candles. Conventional lighting is so.dreary."  
  
Now that the room was lit, Yugi could see that everything was dark here: the furniture, the walls, the heavy curtains that blocked out the sun's rays. "Your host family makes you live like this?"  
  
"Actually, we live alone." Raven gently shut the door. "The school of course thinks we live with a host family, but what they don't know can't hurt them." She paused. "You will keep our little secret, right?"  
  
Yugi hesitated, then nodded. It seemed scary to be all by yourselves, but he guessed they could take care of themselves. They certainly took care of those bullies.  
  
The three settled themselves comfortably on the soft couches, after grabbing some drinks from the refrigerator.  
  
"Ohh.*now* I get it!" Yugi said suddenly, his face lighting up.  
  
"Get what?" Yami asked, a bit confused.  
  
"Both your names mean dark. You dress in dark clothes. Your place is decorated with a dark theme." He paused. "And you act dark and mysterious too." He finished quietly, looking at Yami shyly.  
  
"So you noticed we like the dark." Raven noticed how Yugi was looking at Yami, and vice versa. Uh oh, this could be bad.  
  
"I've never met anyone like you two before." Yugi laughed a little uneasily. "I have to admit, I've never really liked the dark before. But you two.I like. Weird huh?" He smiled.  
  
"The dark can be a great ally, Yugi," Yami said. "You shouldn't need to fear it."  
  
"Well, it certainly helped me today." He again smiled shyly at Yami, who returned the smile.  
  
Raven raised an eyebrow at this. She couldn't tell whether Yami was pretending to like Yugi, or if he really was interested. Either way, it had to stop. Clearing her throat abruptly, Raven glanced at the old clock. "Yugi, your parents are probably getting worried. You should probably get back home."  
  
"I live with my Grandpa actually. But you're right, he probably is getting worried." Yugi stood up. "Thank you both for everything."  
  
"Any time," Raven replied, standing as well. "You're always welcome here."  
  
Yugi smiled.  
  
"Come on," Yami said, grabbing his coat. "I'll give you a lift home."  
  
"Ok, thanks." Yugi turned towards Raven. "'Night."  
  
"'Night."  
  
Raven watched both boys exit the room. Hmm.Yugi definitely could be an Illuminite. He seemed to be "of the light" as they say. Good. Fairly innocent. And blah blah blah. But if he was the Light, then why did she get the feeling that he liked Yami, who was the Dark? Could the Light actually love the Dark?  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Not as I originally planned.but close enough. I had meant to write more info about Yami and Raven, but the bully scene took longer than expected. *shrugs* Eh, next chapter then. Yeah, I'm still working on that other project.so update in a month again? Sound good? (Probably not, but oh well- I'm slow.) Thanks anyways for reading, and please review! ;) 


	3. Almost a Rift

Hey! I'm actually ahead of my deadline. Whoo-hoo! Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh. "blah" is speaking, /blah/ is thoughts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter 3: Almost a Rift  
  
Yami and Yugi were silent as they waited for the elevator. Yami didn't understand why Raven wanted Yugi to leave so abruptly. They had, after all, invited him to their place so they could "get to know him". So far, all they know was that one, he now liked the dark (sorta); two, he lived with his grandpa; and three.well, that was about it, actually. Now looked like an ideal time to find out more.  
  
"So Yugi," Yami said conversationally, "what do you and your friends like to do for fun around here?"  
  
"Well." Yugi thought for a moment," usually, we hang out at Burger World, the park, or at my place. Sometimes we'll go to the arcades. Tea really likes that Dance Revolution game. She's studying to be a dancer."  
  
The elevator doors opened with a ding! and the boys stepped into it. Yami hit the one button before turning to Yugi again. "Tea.your girlfriend?"  
  
Yugi laughed a little. "No, we're just good friends. Her, me, Joey, and Tristan. We hang out a lot together."  
  
Yami wasn't sure why he felt relieved over this information. /Well, I can think of something./ a voice in the back of his mind said. Yami shoved the thought aside quickly. He took a quick breath to focus himself. "Joey and Tristan, the two boys sitting with you at lunch today?" Yami instantly wanted to kick himself. Now Yugi knew he had been watching him. Smooth, Yami.  
  
Yugi blinked at him curiously. Yami had been watching him? "No." he said slowly, "That was Bakura and Marik sitting with me. Joey, Tristan, and Tea are all in America, on that foreign exchange program."  
  
"Oh." Okay, so none of those three could be Illuminites then. The Elders had said all four would be in the same place.  
  
An awkward silence passed before the elevator doors slid open with another ding. Yami and Yugi exited the elevator, then the building, and out into the parking lot. They stopped at the red motorcycle that was parked next to Raven's car. Yami took the black helmet with blue waves encircling it and held it towards Yugi. "You ever ride one of these things before, Yugi?"  
  
Yugi shook his head. He didn't know *Yami* drove that motorcycle. He was sweating a little. What if he fell off that thing by accident? Couldn't they just borrow Raven's car instead?  
  
Yami noticed the little one's worry. He smiled gently. "Don't worry, Yugi. I'll make sure you don't fall off. I promise I'll take the turns slow." He nudged the helmet towards Yugi again. "This is Raven's actually, but I'm sure she won't mind if you use it." He smiled again.  
  
"Okay." Yugi said slowly. "If you say so." He took the helmet from Yami and strapped it on securely. Yami grabbed the other helmet on the bike, also black but with red flames encircling it, and put it on. Then he climbed onto the bike and motioned for Yugi to get on as well. Yugi took a deep breath before he scrambled on awkwardly behind him. He looked around for something to hold onto.  
  
"Hang on to my waist so you won't fall off." Yami's voice was slightly muffled by the helmet. Yugi nodded and tentatively put his arms around the taller's waist. Yugi gulped again as the bike roared to life and Yami took off. As they gained speed, Yugi couldn't help but tighten his grip around Yami's waist. But as scared as he was, a part of him didn't want the ride to end. He kinda liked having his arms around Yami.  
  
All too soon, they arrived at the Turtle Game Shop. The shop itself was closed for the day, but the lights on upstairs meant that Yugi's grandpa, Solomon Muto, was home. Yugi carefully hopped off the bike, his legs a bit shaky from the ride. He unsnapped the helmet's strap and took it off, then handed it back to Yami, who had also removed his helmet. "Have fun?" he asked with a grin.  
  
Yugi smiled. "Yeah! Thanks again for the ride." He shifted his eyes shyly to the ground, then back up at Yami. "So.would you and your friends like to join me, Bakura, and Marik for lunch tomorrow?"  
  
"We'd be delighted to. Thank you for the offer."  
  
"Great! All our friends can get acquainted then. I'll see you tomorrow!" Yugi waved bye as he headed to the shop's door.  
  
Yami waited till he was safely inside, then strapped back on his helmet and took off again, thinking /I have a feeling our friends are already acquainted./ A smile crept at the corners of his mouth as he sped down the street.  
  
When he got back to the pent-house, Bakurian and Marius were already their, talking with Raven. Yami dropped his keys on the small table, then took off his leather coat and draped it over a nearby chair. He went over and sat down next to Raven on the couch. He nodded his greeting to her, then turned his attention to the other two. "What did you find out?"  
  
Bakurian rolled his eyes. "Nobody could be that good and.*annoying* and NOT be an Illuminite."  
  
Yami regarded his closely. "You didn't *kill* him already, now did you?" He knew Bakurian loses his temper easily, and had very little, if any, tolerance for humans he found annoying.  
  
The white-haired boy rolled his eyes again and grumbled to himself. "No, *Marius* ," he shot Marius a nasty glare, "wouldn't let me. Personally, I think he has a thing for that Marik boy."  
  
"I do not!" Marius said hotly. He angrily raised a hand, ready to summon his element, Earth. Bakurian readied for battle as well.  
  
"If you want to fight, then take it outside," Raven said sharply. When both boys had settled back down, Raven continued. "Okay, so it looks like Bakura and Marik may well be Illuminites."  
  
"And Yugi?" asked Yami. "What do you think of him?"  
  
Raven paused. "He's short." She flashed Yami a playful grin, then turned serious again. "Innocent. Good. He's got the qualities. Did you find out anything new?"  
  
He knew she was asking about a possible fourth. He shook his head. "He has three other close friends, but they are all in American at the moment."  
  
"Hmm.there must be another that he is close to." Raven mused.  
  
"Perhaps we'll find out tomorrow."  
  
Raven looked at him questionably. "Tomorrow?"  
  
"Yes, Yugi invited us to sit with him and his friends tomorrow at lunch."  
  
"WHAT?!" Bakurian practically screamed. "You mean I gotta spend *more* time with that little weakling?! Can't we just kill them already and find the fourth ourselves?"  
  
Raven shook her head. "No. We don't make the kill till we are absolutely sure. We have to make sure they are the true four Illuminites."  
  
"Why not just kill them anyways? The world won't miss three measly human boys." He stood up angrily.  
  
Raven groaned. They've had this argument countless times before. Always the same. "I've told you and told you, we don't kill innocent humans. UNLESS, we are ordered to. That is our way."  
  
"No, Raven. That's YOUR way. If *I* were the leader, then I'd-"  
  
He was cut off abruptly by Raven. "Then you'd what? Kill off any and every human in site? Have the human world suspicious of our kind, hunt us down unmercifully?" She raised herself to her full height and glared at Bakurian menacingly. "You want this leader's position? Then go ahead and TRY to take it from me."  
  
Yami put an arm between the two and pulled Raven back a little. "We have a mission to accomplish," he reminded them. "And we need *everyone* to get it done."  
  
His eyes flickered between the two, then settles on Bakurian. "Bakurian, Raven's led us for over 200 years now, kept us alive and together. There's a reason why she's our leader- her knowledge. Her knowledge of the different worlds, ancient magicks, the way things work around here. I strongly advise against a battle with you, for you wouldn't stand a chance. She knows much more than you."  
  
"Then why don't *you* challenge her, Yami, and lead us? Everyone here knows your element Fire can easily overpower her Water."  
  
Yami chuckled. "Because with her vast knowledge of magick, I'd be foolish to do so. Besides, she has my complete loyalty." He looked at Raven.  
  
"Yami's right," Marius cut in. "This is not the time to argue. Let's just find this fourth Illuminite, then kill the four of them. You can settle this *later*."  
  
"Agreed," Raven said. She looked at Bakurian. "If you want out, then I suggest you take it up with the Elders."  
  
"I'll stay.but I'm getting tired of waiting. I want to go hunting *soon*."  
  
Raven smiled. "I have an idea. Tomorrow night, we go hunting. I know the *perfect* prey."  
  
"Who?" asked Yami curiously.  
  
"A certain group of boys who like to play tough bullies."  
  
Yami's eyes narrowed. He knew who she was talking about. Those jerks who had picked on Yugi. He was going to especially enjoy this hunt.  
  
Bakurian and Marik left shortly after, going to their pent-house down the hall. /Finally./ thought Raven with a sigh. She turned to Yami. "Thanks for supporting me, Yami. Bakurian is starting to become a problem."  
  
"He's young and impatient, Cousin. And that temper of his."  
  
"Hmph.that "temper" causes him to be careless. It'll be the end of him some day," she said a little sadly.  
  
Eyebrows raised. "Oh, still concerned about him?  
  
Raven punched Yami lightly on the arm. "Of course, idiot. He and Marius are like family to us.a really annoying family, anyways."  
  
Yami laughed. "Well, maybe after tomorrow's hunt he'll calm down some."  
  
"We just killed last night, Yami. You'd think a few times a week would be enough for him.but he wants to hunt every night almost.it's not a good sign." She sighed.  
  
"It's just his way. His nature. Besides, we all love the hunt."  
  
"Not as much as he does." Raven muttered to herself. She decided to change the subject. "So what do you think of Yugi?"  
  
This caught Yami by surprise. "Y-Yugi? What about him?" He said nervously.  
  
"I noticed the looks you gave him. Your unwillingness to show your violent side to him. Your eagerness as hunting those bullies who had picked on him." She paused. "You don't *like* him now, do you?"  
  
"Of course not!" Yami said a little too quickly. "I know our world's laws."  
  
Raven nodded, but wasn't too convinced. "Well, don't forget them. You know how strict the Elders are. I don't want you getting in trouble with them."  
  
Yami knew what she was referring to, but refusing to say. The Elders killed those who broke the law. "I promise. I'll remember them, and I won't break them," he assured her. He just hoped he would be able to keep his promise.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Wow.that was an incredibly.boring chapter. All talk basically. Sorry about that. I promise next chapter should have some more action in it. If this chapter was a bit confusing, then it should be cleared up within the next few chapters hopefully. Yami's and Raven's "world" will be better explained and such. I have one more chapter to write on my other project, then I can concentrate fully on this fic. So update in.two weeks maybe? Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to review! :D 


	4. The Cemetery

Bah, mediaminer.org is giving me such troubles lately. Which is why I decided to try posting on here (hence the 4 chapters to start.)  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh. And I kinda got this idea from LJ Smith's Nightworld series.  
  
"blah" = speaking, /blah/ = thoughts, ~blah~ = wolf speaking (umm.they are talking with their mind, but other people can hear them, k?)  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter 4: The Cemetery  
  
At lunchtime the following day, Yami and the others easily found Yugi and his little group sitting under the large oak tree. Ever since Raven had so casually mentioned that he liked Yugi, Yami could not seem to get the boy out of his thoughts. All last night, through his morning classes, the boy had kept tugging insistently at his mind. Was it actually possible that he liked this human boy? What was Raven seeing that he was obviously so blind to?  
  
Momentarily, Yami's thoughts shifted to his cousin. She and Bakurian still had not said a word to each other all morning. This was not good for the group. They needed their unity to survive. Together, they were powerful and strong, nearly unstoppable. But divided-  
  
Yami's thoughts were interrupted as Yugi caught his gaze, smiling and waving. Yami offered his own smile as he sat down next to him on the cool grass. He noticed Marius sitting down next to Marik, and Bakurian, though somewhat reluctantly, plopping himself down next to Bakura. He wore his familiar scowl. Raven sat down silently next to Yami, her face solemn and emotionless. Yami couldn't tell whether it was because of Bakurian or because they had yet to find the fourth Illuminite.  
  
After everyone was introduced to one another, Yugi told the others how Yami and Raven had saved him from those bullies. "It was amazing!" he said, smiling brightly at Yami in particular. "They sent those bullies running so fast in the other direction!"  
  
As the conversations continued, Raven let her gaze roam restlessly around the courtyard. Yugi and his two friends were definitely the faint energy source she had felt the previous day at the "welcome" assembly. She could feel it faintly even now, sitting close to them. But if they were the true Illuminites, then their power should be much stronger. Much, much stronger. With the fourth, they would be able to rise to their full potential, just as the Elders prophesized. So, while the boys talked amongst themselves, Raven searched for any slight signs of magickal energy. Her golden eyes finally rested on a lone boy. He too did not follow the school dress code, wearing a long silvery coat over dark pants and shirt. He was sitting against a tree, typing furiously on his laptop. His short brown hair waved slightly with the light wind. He was completely focused on the laptop before him, paying no attention whatsoever to the other students near him. Or to the girl staring at him. Or so she thought.  
  
**************************  
  
Seto Kaiba sat typing furiously on his laptop, his fingers moving rapidly over the keyboard. Oh, how he hated school. He should be at his office, running his company, but his damn board advisors insisted that he attend. He needed a "decent education", they said. Pheh, they probably just wanted him out of their way for several hours, give themselves a "break". Suddenly, Kaiba felt that he was being watched, and he glanced up curiously. People were always staring at him, but this one felt.different. He narrowed his eyes as he searched around the courtyard for the intruding stare. At last, he stopped at a dark haired girl, sitting with Yugi and his group. He vaguely remembered her from the previous day's assembly- he hadn't really been paying attention. At least, not until she and her friends had openly defied the principal. It was always fun watching students disobey school authority. Especially when it was that stuffy old man they called "Principal".  
  
Cold blue eyes locked onto sharp golden ones. But only for a moment. Kaiba looked back down at his laptop screen, intent on finishing his work. He had no idea what had caused him to look up in the first place, and he chided himself silently for being distracted so easily, even only if momentarily.  
  
****************************  
  
Cold blue eyes. Intriguing. Raven sensed a pale energy source coming from the boy, but it wasn't quite like what she felt coming from Yugi and his friends. Something felt.off, but she couldn't place her finger on it.  
  
"That's Seto Kaiba."  
  
Yugi's voice jolted her out of her thoughts. "Who?"  
  
"Seto Kaiba. He's the CEO of Kaiba Corp, which designs the newest game technology. He's very much the loner, always typing on that laptop of his. I don't think he has any friends."  
  
"Not that he wants any." Marik grumbled. Everyone turned towards him. "He only cares for that company of his and his little brother, Mokuba."  
  
"So you guys.don't talk to him, or hang out with him or anything?" Raven asked curiously.  
  
Yugi sighed. "We tried to. But Kaiba just pushed us away, firmly stating he didn't have time for "friends"."  
  
Raven frowned a little. No other person at this school projected any sort of magickal energy. So this Kaiba must be the fourth. But if he was, then he should have been somewhat close to Yugi and the others. Something was not right.  
  
A movement in the corner of her eye caught Raven's attention, and she glanced over to her left. What she saw made her smile: Bandana Head and a bunch of his buddies were approaching them. Perfect.  
  
Yami saw them too and immediately rose to his feet, facing them. Yugi looked up at him, asking, "Yami, what's wr-" He stopped mid-word, his eyes widening as he saw the approaching bullies. He stood up quickly, and was immediately pulled protectively behind Yami. Raven got up as well, a small smile still on her lips.  
  
"Well, well, well boys. Fancy meeting you here. Bully on anyone lately?" Raven narrowed her eyes at them.  
  
Bandana Head glared right back. "We're here to teach you a lesson! You punks got lucky yesterday, but now there are even more of us!" There were half a dozen of them. "Prepare to be pummeled!"  
  
Marius and Bakurian jumped up as well, Bakurian grinning. Yes, a fight! "You mess with them, and you'll have *us* to deal with as well!"  
  
Even though he was angry with Raven, Bakurian never could turn down a fight.even if it meant siding with her. But now was not her intended time for the fight. "Not here," she said calmly.  
  
"Why? Are ya afraid?" Bandana Head and his buddies laughed.  
  
Raven smirked. "Of course not. But it's no fun to fight with the school authorities hanging about. How about we go outside the school?"  
  
"Alright. You want your pummeling later? Fine then. Name the place and time. And you *better* show up too. Or else tomorrow we'll come after you. With or without school authorities watching us." He grinned.  
  
"The old cemetery, eight o'clock *sharp*. And don't worry, we'll be there."  
  
Yami knew *exactly* what she was planning, and he smiled. "Watch your backs." he called to the backs of the boys as they walked away. "You're in for a BIG surprise."  
  
A tug on his sleeve caused Yami to turn around. Yugi was looking at him with big, worried eyes. "Are you sure you know what you are doing?" he asked in a concerned voice.  
  
Yami smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Yugi. We can handle them."  
  
Yugi frowned, still not liking it. "Well, I'm coming with you then. After all, it is kinda my fault that they are mad at you."  
  
"No, they had it coming. Someone has to teach them a lesson. Besides, I don't want you in any danger. You and your friends best stay home tonight."  
  
"But-" Yugi was about to protest further, but was cut off by Raven.  
  
"Yami's right, Short-Stuff." It was her new nickname for him, though don't ask her why she gave him one. "You'd just get in the way."  
  
The bell ending the lunch period sounded off, effectively ending their discussion. "Don't worry," Yami repeated as he and Raven started to head off in the direction of their next class. "We'll be fine. See you tomorrow."  
  
Yugi waved, then grabbed his backpack and ran to catch up with Bakura and Marik. He couldn't just sit at home and do nothing. He had an idea.  
  
*******************  
  
The night air was crisp and chilly as Bandana Head and his buddies waited in the dark cemetery for the punks who dared stand up to him. *Nobody* made fools out of him and his gang. *Nobody* interfered with their business. He checked his watch for the hundredth time it seemed. Five minutes till eight. He figured they get there early, so there wouldn't be any "surprises" waiting for them, as that pointy haired guy had said there would be. Pheh. *Nobody* surprised them either.  
  
The minutes ticked by slowly, until at last it was eight sharp. Bandana Head looked around anxiously. He heard a rustle of leaves behind him, and he whirled around, fists ready. Nothing. Just the wind. Or maybe those punks were trying to jump them or something. Another rustle of leaves behind Scar Boy caused the boys to turn around in that direction. Nothing as well. Bandana Head swallowed, then called out, "Enough hiding already! Come out and fight like a man!" His voice shook slightly.  
  
A low growl was his response. Bandana Head peered into the darkness. Was this some kind of a joke? His eyes widened when he saw a glowing pair of angry red eyes peering out from behind one of the headstones. He gasped when the eyes were joined by the rest of its body, as a wolf slowly made its way from behind the headstone. The gasp of his friends caused him to look back. Three other wolves had also come out from behind headstones. They were surrounded!  
  
Bandana Head put out a shaky hand. "Easy, boy," he whispered shakily. "We don't wanna hurt you."  
  
Another growl was his answer, as well as a set of bared teeth. Bandana Head jerked back his hand, his eyes wide with fear. The wolves suddenly advanced their attack. Bandana Head and his buddies didn't stand a chance.  
  
Moments later, it was over. The wolf with the red eyes looked up from the dead bully at his feet, his eyes frozen in terror. It was all too easy. Stupid boy. Wasn't so tough after all. Suddenly, the wolf's ears pricked up. Someone.or something was coming. A wolf with yellow eyes looked up from her kill as well, ears pricked. She stepped away from the body and joined the first wolf.  
  
~Yami, someone else is here as well.~  
  
~I know, Raven. But I don't *smell* anything.~  
  
~I do.~ Yami looked at her. ~I smell death.~  
  
A wolf with dark grey eyes came up to them. ~Vampires?~  
  
His question was answered by a series of loud clapping. Yami narrowed his eyes as four figures clad in black stepped out from behind a few trees. With his keen eyesight, he could see their sharp fangs protruding from their upper mouths. Vampires.  
  
A pretty blonde-haired vampire stopped a few feet from the wolves. She stopped her clapping. "Well done, Guardians. I see you haven't lost your hunting skills."  
  
~Isabella.~ Yami growled. He hadn't seen her in a long time, but well- remembered her.  
  
Isabella laughed. "It's been a while now hasn't it? Nearly two centuries and a half almost." She smiled wistfully, as if recalling the past in her mind. "Ah, what fun we had hunting together. We were quite ruthless, you and I." Her eyes darkened suddenly. "But then you had to listen to that cousin of yours."  
  
~Good thing I did.~ Yami replied. ~Or I might have turned out like you: a remorseless killer.~  
  
Isabella sneered at that last remark. "And what's wrong with that? Humans are meant to be our prey. And nothing else."  
  
Before Yami could reply, the snap of a twig was heard. Immediately, the three vampires with Isabella took off towards a cluster of nearby headstones. Startled cries could be heard as they half-dragged three struggling figures out from behind the headstones. Yami recognized one boy's pointy hairstyle. /Oh no.Yugi./  
  
Yugi, Bakura, and Marik were dragged over to where Isabella and the wolves were standing. They were completely terrified, after having witnessed the deaths of those bullies. And now there were vampires.And where were Yami, Raven, and the others? Yugi feared that those wolves, or vampires, had already gotten to them.  
  
The boys were thrown at the feet of Isabella, who knelt down to their level. "Well look what we have here: dinner," she whispered, showing her fangs. "And such pretty little ones too." Then she sneered suddenly, her lips curling up in a snarl. She stood back up. "And who reek of goodness and light. I *hate* the smell of goodness. It's so.*nauseating*." She bent and grabbed Yugi by the collar of his jacket, and lifted him off of his feet. "Let's see how you taste, little boy." She opened her mouth for the first bite.  
  
But was suddenly thrown off balance, Yugi tumbling back to the ground. He scrambled to his knees as Marik and Bakura went to him. They huddled close together. In the meantime, Isabella was also laying on the ground, with Yami standing over her, his paws to either side of her body. His lips were curled into a vicious snarl, his teeth bared. His eyes were flashing dangerously. ~Stay away from him, you monster! Or you'll wish you were never born.~  
  
Isabella laughed. "Is that a threat, Yami? Or a challenge?" She paused. "Or is it just a soft spot you have for that human?" Her eyes widened, and she burst out laughing. "You *like* the boy, don't you? Yes, I can see it in your eyes."  
  
Yugi's eyes widened at the mention of Yami's name. "Y-Yami?" he asked in a quiet voice.  
  
The wolf looked at him, and their eyes locked. Yugi's eyes widened even more. It *was* Yami! He'd recognize those eyes any where.  
  
Isabella used this opportunity to shove Yami off of her. As he tumbled to the ground, she whipped out her dagger from her belt and slashed at him, catching his right front paw. Yami yelped from the pain. Raven, Marius, and Bakurian immediately rushed over, forming a protective circle around him. The other three vampires likewise gathered behind Isabella. Raven let out a low growl. ~Leave while you can, Isabella. You don't stand a chance against us!~  
  
"I never did like you much, Raven. And now I'm going to prove why *I* should have been chosen to guard the Watchtowers!" She and the other vampires lunged at them, their mouths open, fingers curled like claws.  
  
~Alu tinechor!~ Raven shouted. A powerful wall of water shot up from the ground in between them. Isabella snarled as she clawed at the water with her hands, but was unable to break through. "You've won this match, Raven! But next time, you won't be so lucky!" She and the others ran off into the night.  
  
The water shield died down as soon as they were gone, and Raven turned towards Yami. ~Yami! You ok?~  
  
Yami was licking at the wound on his paw. ~Damn. She got me rather deep.~  
  
~Let me see.~  
  
Yami stopped licking and Raven peered down at it, kinda pushing his paw with her nose. Yami recoiled a bit. ~Ouch!~ he said angrily. He glared at her.  
  
~Sorry. It's not bad though.~ She closed her eyes, focused her magick on his paw, and muttered ~Tanka harwar.~ Bluish sparkles appeared around the wound. When they disappeared, the wound was gone. ~It'll be a bit sore, but the wound is gone.~ She moved away from him.  
  
~Thanks.~ Yami got up from the ground, and looked at the three human boys still huddled close together. Yugi had recognized him. Yami sighed. Damn. Now they either would have to tell them the truth.or kill them.  
  
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Yeah, I chickened out on the death of the bullies part. I could not make it all gory and bloody and stuff. It's best if that is left in my own mind.  
  
I suppose you are wondering about the weirdo words Raven was using for her magick. Believe it or not, it's Elven. I got the translations from a site that I found. I don't know a thing about Elven grammar, so they will always be direct translations. Here are the ones for this chapter:  
  
Alu tinechor: water shield  
  
Tanka harwar: Heal  
  
Well, I hope you liked this chapter. Things should start to pick up now. I hope. Thanks for reading and please review!  
  
Please, please, please, let this be in the correct format! 


	5. Choices and Decisions

Yeah, I've been ummmm.lazy of late. Sorry for the long update.  
  
Thanks so much to SoulDreamer, Yami's Tenchi, vegie, and ChaosDragon2 for reviews! You guys ROCK!! :D And thank you also to everyone else who read the story!  
  
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Yugioh. And I sorta got this idea from LJ Smith's Nightworld series.  
  
"blah": speaking, /blah/: thoughts, ~blah~: wolf speaking ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter 5: Choices and Decisions  
  
To kill, or not to kill? For Yami, it had always been kill or *be* killed. There was never really a choice. Until now. Now, things were different. Very different indeed. He had *feelings* for a human boy. Yes, he was willing to admit that now. The realization had come when Isabella was about to bite Yugi. Something just *clicked* inside of him, and he knew that he had to protect Yugi, at all costs. Yami looked at the boy who had captured his heart, and smiled inwardly to himself. Yugi's eyes told him everything he needed to know: such a willingness to understand in those deep pools of purple. Yugi didn't know what was going on, but was willing to listen before passing any judgment. Such an enduring trait for one so young.  
  
Yami was about to walk over to Yugi, when Raven came and blocked his path. ~What do you think you are doing?~ she asked in a slightly angry tone.  
  
This was going to be difficult. Yami knew of Raven's deep hatred for the human race, spurned from a betrayal that happened so long ago. But he had to make her understand. ~I'm going to tell him the truth. I know it's breaking the law, but I don't care.~ He looked at her pleadingly in the eyes. ~I can't kill him, Raven. I just can't.~  
  
Raven peered deep into his eyes, and immediately recognized the look: he was in love. With a *human*. How this could have happened, she had no idea. He had broken one of Arawn's laws. And now he wished to break the second by telling the human about their world. She had to convince him otherwise. ~And what makes you think he'll understand?~ she asked rather icily. ~Or worse, what makes you think he won't betray you?~  
  
~All humans are not the same. You *know* this one is good, because you can sense it. And his eyes promise me that he will try to understand. I trust him. He will *not* betray me.~  
  
Raven growled low, slightly lifting her upper lip. ~You're going to let a *human* ruin all that we've worked for? Let a *human* tear us apart? You know what will happen. Are you willing to risk everything for one human boy?~  
  
~Yes, I am.~ Yami held her gaze. They had been through so much together. They were the only family each other had. For centuries, they had looked out for, and taken care of each other. Was he really willing to risk losing her for a human boy? The answer came immediately from the back of his mind: /Yes./  
  
A long silence passed, no one daring to say anything. Finally, Raven said quietly, ~Fine. You've made your decision. And I've made mine. Good luck.~ She turned to go, and headed off a few steps before turning back to Yami. ~You're going to need it. For now, you've become the hunted.~  
  
Yami saw the hint of sadness in her eyes. But before he could speak, Marius broke in. ~No, Raven. *We've* become the hunted. I-I think I've fallen for the boy Marik. And I'm going to tell the truth as well.~  
  
Raven sighed as she shook her head, then looked at Bakurian. ~And what about you, Bakurian? Have you fallen for your human as well?~  
  
~Of course not!~ Bakurian said hurriedly. Then he paused. ~Well, he does kinda grow on you . in an annoying way, of course.~ he finished quickly. He looked away from her gaze sheepishly.  
  
Then, Raven lost it, and walked back over to where Yami was still standing. ~Can't you all see it?!~ she burst out angrily. ~Or has *love* blinded you so much that you can't see what's right in front of you? You can't see the problem at hand, that this *love* will surely fail!~ She breathed heavily, and angrily paced back and forth in front of them.  
  
~What are you babbling about, Raven?~ asked Bakurian. ~Of course we know the problem. We *know* the Elders will come after us.~ He sounded annoyed.  
  
Raven let out an exasperated snarl. ~You fools! That's not what I'm talking about. I'm referring to your *immortality*. Or rather, *their*~ she glanced at the three human boys, ~ *mortality*.~  
  
Yami's eyes widened as he understood. The Guardians were immortal, meaning that they never aged, and could not be easily killed. Only a few things could kill them: the deadly magick of the Elders, or if they were beheaded . But Yugi and his friends, they would grow old and one day die. Even their love could not prevent that . Yami looked at Raven pleadingly. ~Is there nothing we can do? A spell we can cast?~  
  
Raven shook her head. ~I do not have that kind of magick. Only the Elders do, and I guarantee they won't help. So I ask you again, Yami. Are you willing to risk everything, even though you know it won't last?~  
  
Yami hesitated, not knowing what to say. He looked at Marius and Bakurian, who were also unsure. Then a small voice spoke.  
  
"He won't have to."  
  
All eyes turned to the voice. It was Yugi. He had been amazed that he could hear what they had been saying. His mind was still reeling from the events of the night, and he struggled to understand what was going on. What he did understand was that he could not let Yami risk everything just for him. It wouldn't be fair. And according to Raven, it wouldn't be for much good either, since they could not be together *forever* . His decision made, Yugi took a deep breath and looked at the golden-eyed wolf. "What can be done so Yami won't be in trouble?"  
  
~Your death.~ Raven answered quietly.  
  
Yugi nodded. "I understand."  
  
This surprised Raven greatly. This *human* was willing to sacrifice his life for Yami's? Perhaps she had been wrong about the human race .  
  
Yami went up to Yugi, bringing his face close to the boy's. Yugi had never seen a wolf this close before. Tentatively, he reached a hand out to stroke Yami's neck. The fur under his fingers were coarse, yet soft. Yami nuzzled Yugi's neck lightly with his nose. ~I would rather die then hurt you, Yugi.~ he said quietly. He continued nuzzling, which made Yugi smile.  
  
Raven watched the wolf and boy together. She noticed Marius and Bakurian were near the other two humans as well, Marius letting Mark stroke his fur as he nuzzled his neck. Bakurian, on the other hand, sat a bit rigidly as Bakura tentatively patted him on the head. Raven turned disgustedly away from the "couples". She should just leave them. If they wanted to defy the Elders and lose everything, then let them. This would be their fight, not hers. And yet, something held her back .  
  
~Raven.~  
  
Raven turned toward the voice: Yami. He had stopped his nuzzling, and was looking at her. ~We have a better chance of prevailing against the Elders with you on our side. And maybe *together*, we can find a way for this to work.~  
  
~Does the boy truly make you happy, Yami?~ Raven asked quietly.  
  
The red-eyed wolf nodded. ~Yes. More than anything.~  
  
His cousin sighed, then nodded as well. ~All right. I'll do what I can to help.~ She paused. ~But I am *not* doing this for the human . only for your happiness.~  
  
Yami smiled as he went up to her and rubbed his face against her neck and shoulder. She in return rubbed her head against his shoulder. ~Thank you for understanding.~  
  
They broke apart. Raven looked up at the dark sky, then at the dead bodies of the bullies. ~We should change and get everyone back to the pent- house. You have much explaining to do .~  
  
Yami nodded as Bakurian and Marius walked up towards them. Closing their eyes, the wolves said in unison, ~ Wethren i' me'a, natul vee' firimar onna.~ Red, blue, brown, and white crystals sparkled and surrounded them, one for each of their elements: red for Yami's Fire, blue for Raven's Water, brown for Marius's Earth, and white for Bakurian's Air. The colored crystals blanketed the four wolves for a moment, then faded away, revealing four humans clad in black.  
  
"Yami!" Yugi said happily as he got up from the ground and rushed over to hug him. Yami embraced him tightly as Marik and Marius also embraced. Bakurian just gave Bakura a look that warned don't-even-think- about-it . Raven watched her happy cousin with a slight look of longing . sighing, she shook her head as she started to walk toward the cemetery's exit. The boys soon followed.  
  
Yugi looked uncertainly at the bodies littered around the area. "What about ." he trailed off, looking at Yami with sad eyes.  
  
Yami wrapped his arm around Yugi's shoulders, and pulled him close. He felt horrible that Yugi had seen their violent deaths. But he also had the feeling that he understood that that was a part of his nature. "Don't worry. The police will take care of them later." He led Yugi away form the horrible scene and out of the cemetery.  
  
***********************  
  
At last, they had reached Yami and Raven's place. Bakurian and Marius had already taken Bakura and Marik back to their place to discuss things. Yami unlocked the door, went inside to the small table and struck a match. He lit one candle, and instantly the other candles were lighted as well, illuminating the room. Yugi was watching him curiously. Yami smiled. "I'll explain how I can do that in a bit."  
  
While the boys settled themselves comfortably on the couch, Raven walked to the window and pulled open the heavy, dark curtains. She stared dully out the window, listening to the boys' discussion. Yugi had just asked where they had come from.  
  
Yami took a deep breath. Here goes . "We come from a world called Arawn: the Realm of Darkness. You see, there are many different realms that exist: ours, the Realm of Darkness, your world, the Realm of Light, the Fairy Realm, the Elf Realm, and many others. Arawn is home to vampires such as Isabella, shapeshifters such as the four of us, wizards and witches of the dark.and any other creature of the dark."  
  
Yugi stared at Yami in amazement. He had no idea other worlds besides his even existed! "That vampire . had called you "Guardians?" was his next question.  
  
"Yes. The four of us, Raven, Bakurian, Marius and myself are knows as the Guardians of the Watchtowers. The Watchtowers are the four directions of the circle, and each corresponds to a specific element: the East Watchtower controls the element Air, the South controls the element Fire, the West controls the element Water, and finally the North controls the element Earth." Yami paused to take a breath, giving Yugi a chance to absorb all of this, before continuing. "The Watchtowers also serve as a sort of . gateway or portal into, and out of, Arawn. Others must call on us to open the portals if they want to enter or leave Arawn. Besides us, only the Elders can open the portals." He paused. "It is also our responsibility to guard the portals from any unwelcome . intruders."  
  
Yugi glanced towards Raven, who was still gazing out the window. It had started to rain. Yugi turned his attention back to Yami. "Back at the cemetery, when those vampires were about to attack you, Raven called up a . shield of water. So does that mean that you guys have the powers of the elements as well?"  
  
Yami smiled. He knew this boy was smart. "Yes. We each control one element, are in charge of one Watchtower. Marius has the northern Earth element, Bakurian has the eastern Air element, Raven has the western Water element, and I control the southern Fire element." He smiled slightly. "That is why I'm able to light those candles."  
  
There was a silence as Yugi thought about all of this. So not only could they control the elements, but they also control the portals. He had one more question . "Yami?" he asked timidly.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"H-How come you were sent to my world? It sounds like you already have a lot of other things to worry about ."  
  
Yami sighed. He had been hoping Yugi wouldn't ask that question, and briefly wondered how Bakurian and Marius were handling that question. Before he could answer however, Raven finally spoke.  
  
"We were sent here by the Elders, who are the . leaders of Arawn." Raven had sensed Yami's discomfort in answering this particular question, so had decided to answer it for him. She turned from the window and went to sit in the chair opposite of the couch that Yami and Yugi were on. When she had settled herself, she continued. "The Elders had prophesized that four humans from the Realm of Light would one day destroy Arawn. They called these four the Illuminites, or Guardians of the Watchtowers of Light. Sort of our . opposites, if you will." She paused, thinking. "So, the Elders became paranoid, and sent us to make sure their prophesy never came true ." she trailed off.  
  
Yugi nodded his head in understanding. "They sent you guys to kill them before they became powerful enough. And you think me, Bakura, and Marik are the Illuminites?"  
  
Raven nodded. "Yes. I sense a faint source of magick power within you all. It would probably be much stronger if the fourth was here as well."  
  
"Who's the fourth?"  
  
Yami shook his head. "We don't know yet. We were hoping that be getting close to you we could find out. The Elders had said that all four Illuminites would be close together, and in the same place."  
  
Yugi shook his head. "My closest friends are all in America. I don't know who this fourth could be."  
  
"It doesn't matter anyways," Raven said. "Things have changed now ." She looked at Yami, then back at Yugi. She let out a sigh. "Now we have to worry about the Elders. They will not be pleased with these turn of events."  
  
"Will they . come after all of us?" Yugi asked.  
  
"Yes. We've broken the law, and they'll want our heads for that. And they still want you and your friends dead as well."  
  
"But if they kill you, then who will guard the portals?"  
  
"We can be easily replaced ."  
  
Yugi noticed the bitterness in her tone, but decided not to press it. The silence lasted for several more minutes, till Raven stood up suddenly. "Well, I'm heading out for a walk. You two probably want some . privacy or whatever." She walked over to the window and lifted it up. She turned back towards them, adding, "To discuss stuff. I suggest you use this time wisely. They'll be coming soon. And it will be a long battle ahead." Raven slid out the window and onto the emergency staircase outside. The rain had started pouring now. Raven sighed as she started down the stairs. Yes, it will be a long battle indeed .  
  
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Ugh . I think I screwed up this chapter. Wasn't really sure how to explain things. *shrugs*  
  
Translations (direct):  
  
Wethren i' me'a, natul vee' firimar onna.: To deceive the light, become as mortal creatures.  
  
Thanks for reading and please review! 


	6. Raven

I've actually had this written for a while now, but I haven't had much time to type it up yet. I'll try to manage my time better.  
  
Thanks to Tarika Rania, dark fairy7 and vegie for the reviews. And to answer your question, Tarika, yeah, I did kinda make up the spells, but the language used is Elven actually.  
  
Disclaimer: Yeesh. I don't own Yugioh. And this idea comes from LJ Smith's Nightworld series.  
  
"blah": speaking, /blah/: thoughts, ~blah~: wolf speaking ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter 6: Raven  
  
Yami sat on the couch, arms wrapped around Yugi, listening to the muffled clanking of his cousin's boots as she made her way down the metal staircase. Yugi, resting his head on Yami's shoulder, listened as well. It wasn't long before the clanking died down completely. They sat in silence, listening to each other's heartbeats. It was Yugi who broke the silence. "Yami?"  
  
"Hmmm?" Yami stirred himself out of his thoughts and glanced down at Yugi. "Is something wrong?"  
  
Yugi sighed. "It's.Raven. She seems so.sad. I wish there was someone here for her."  
  
The southern guardian smiled lightly. Always concerned for the welfare of others. A cute trait. "Raven. isn't much for the companionship of others. With the exception of myself, perhaps. She'd rather be alone. So I wouldn't worry too much about her. She'll be fine." But in truth, Yami was concerned for his cousin. He knew she was rather reluctant to agree on helping them, and she definitely wasn't happy with the whole situation. Her stony, emotionless exterior could not fool him. Inside, Yami knew she was furious and upset over the fact that he had chosen Yugi over her. And that she now had to help in saving a human.Yami too wished that there was someone for her, but after what happened those long centuries ago, he doubted she would ever open her heart to a human's love.  
  
"Yami?" Yugi asked again. When he had his attention, he continued. "Why does Raven hate humans so much?" Yugi well-remembered the contempt and hatred he could hear in her voice as she had argued with Yami.  
  
"Because of something that happened a long time ago, Yugi. A very deadly and costly betrayal."  
  
"Tell me?" Yugi asked gently. "Maybe then I could help? It's the least I can do since she's willing to help us."  
  
Yami sighed. He hoped his cousin wouldn't be *too* angry if he told Yugi about her past. "Raven hasn't always hated the human race so much. In fact, many centuries ago, before we became Guardians, she was in love with one."  
  
Yugi's eyes widened. He waited patiently for him to continue.  
  
"Raven knew that their love wasn't allowed, but she didn't care. At the time, our family was living in the mountains near the boy's village, as wolves of course. We wanted to "experience" living in the mortal realm as a whole. Well, Raven believed that this boy could be trusted, so she told him who she really was, and showed him where we were living." Yami trailed off, his eyes darkening from the memories.  
  
Yugi noticed the change, and comfortingly put his hand over Yami's. Yami smiled at the gesture, then took a deep breath and continued. "One night, Raven and I went out hunting together. When we returned.our world had been turned upside-down." Yami tightened his arms around Yugi as the memories of that night swept over him.  
  
"What happened?" Yugi asked quietly.  
  
"They were all dead," Yami whispered, barely audible. "Our entire family, her parents, my parents, our brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts.all dead. And standing in the midst of the bodies was the human boy, a bloody sword in his hand."  
  
Yugi gasped. "He murdered your entire family? After being trusted?" His eyes started to water.  
  
"Yes. He got his village to help by telling them that he had found a pack of dangerous wolves nearby. But that isn't all."  
  
Yugi didn't like the tone in Yami's voice. "It isn't?" He didn't know how much worse this story could get.  
  
Yami shook his head slowly. "We found out why he did it: if he could get rid of our family, then he would be granted immortality. *Someone* had already turned him into a vampire, but we never found out who. He managed to escape us that night, as our grief and rage prevented us from thinking straight. Raven spent the next century trying to find and kill him.but she never did. She finally gave up." Yami paused. "I don't think she can put the past behind her and open her heart to love again until she finds him and settles things."  
  
"No wonder she despises humans so much." Yugi murmured. He didn't think he'd be able to help much after all.  
  
"Perhaps you can help to heal the wounds after all, Yugi." Yami smiled down at him.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"After you said you were willing to sacrifice your life for mine.I think Raven's perspective towards humans changed, ever so slightly. I could see that she was trying to figure out why you would do something like that, and I think it got her thinking."  
  
"I sure hope I can help." Yugi yawned, suddenly growing sleepy. He snuggled up against Yami's chest comfortably, closing his eyes. Yami relaxed and leaned back into the couch, closing his eyes as well. Their rest was short-lived however, as the room started to darken. Yami felt a dark presence, and snapped his eyes open. He quickly sat up, tightening his arms protectively around Yugi. Yugi, who had felt Yami's body tense up, opened his eyes as well. "What's going on?" he whispered.  
  
"They've found us."  
  
Before he could answer further, a large crackling portal opened before them. Yami didn't even have time to call up a shield as the portal moved and swallowed them. There was only one place they could be going.Arawn.  
  
******************************  
  
Seto Kaiba sat in the back of his sleek limousine, typing on his laptop as always. He was returning home late from the office. So much work to do, yet so little time to do it all. If only he didn't have to go to that pointless school, he would have plenty of time to finish his work. Thinking of how much he hated having to go to school however brought his thoughts back to the lunch break. Or rather to that dark haired girl who had been staring at him. He wasn't sure really why his thoughts kept coming back to her. He always paid minimal, if any, attention to other people, except his little brother, content on focusing on running his company. So why was this girl seemingly always on his mind? It was aggravating, not being able to focus entirely on his work. Maybe it was her eyes- she had an unusual eye color: liquid gold. Wait a minute.did he just notice something *particular* about another person? Kaiba shook his head. He must be losing it.  
  
Sighing, he closed his laptop. It wasn't like he was getting much work done anyways. Kaiba glanced out the dark tinted window of his limo. It was raining quite hard, the rain pounding mercilessly on anything in its path. Including the lone figure walking slowly along the sidewalk. The limo rushed by the figure quickly, and Kaiba hurriedly ordered the driver to stop. The driver, not expecting this sudden command, slammed his foot on the brake pedal, and the limo came to a screeching halt. The force knocked Kaiba a bit off balance in his seat, but he quickly straightened and turned to look out the back window. The figure was slowly approaching the window, head up, eyes looking straight forward. Blue eyes widened as he was able to recognize the figure's face: it was the girl from lunch! She was completely drenched, including her long dark coat that somewhat resembled his own. Her dark hair was slick, raindrops falling from its tips. It looked as if she had been walking in the rain for quite some time. Her eyes were narrowed in a slight frown, as if she was deeply pondering something. They didn't even glance at the limo parked on the street as she passed by it.  
  
Kaiba now looked out the side window again, at the girl walking ahead. Something was telling him to roll down his window and talk to her. He decided to listen to that little voice, out of curiosity of course. Kaiba looked at the driver. "Driver. Drive slowly alongside the girl walking on the sidewalk. Do not pass her."  
  
The drive nodded as the limo started rolling again, slowly. It pulled neatly beside the girl, so that Kaiba's window was right next to her. The girl still paid no attention to the limo. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Kaiba hit a small, round button on the door. The window rolled down completely, water drops immediately splashing into the limo. Trying to play it cool, Kaiba said in a low voice, "You know, you could catch a cold walking in that rain." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to kick himself. That was his best opening line?! But he kept his face a mask.  
  
Raven glanced out of the corner of her eyes to her left. She was surprised to see that it was that Kaiba-boy sitting in the limo, leaning his head a bit out of the window. But she didn't show her surprise, instead looking forward again. "The water doesn't bother me," she said in a toneless voice. He may be the fourth Illuminite, but it didn't matter any more. Therefore, she no longer had any interest in him.  
  
Kaiba was.stunned. Usually, *he* was the one who dismissed people so abruptly. Not the other way around. He quickly recovered. "The name's Kaiba. Seto Kaiba."  
  
Raven rolled her eyes. This guy couldn't take much of a hint, now can he? "I know. Yugi told me." Oops. Now he knew she had asked about him. Damn. She wasn't thinking too straight for some reason.  
  
This gave Kaiba a flicker of confidence. "And you are?"  
  
"Really not interested."  
  
Now Kaiba was confused. "But if you know my name-"  
  
"Look," Raven cut him off. She stopped and turned fully towards him, water dripping down her face. The limo stopped as well. "Things have changed. I may have been.intrigued by you at lunch, but now it no longer matters. So stop following me already." With a shake of her head, she started walking again, a bit faster this time. However, to her dismay, the limo continued its pace alongside her.  
  
"What-what changed?"  
  
Raven sighed and stopped once more, looking at Kaiba. "You don't take no for an answer, do you?"  
  
He smiled-almost. "You don't get ahead in business by taking no for an answer. In my line of work, you have to be relentless in getting what you want."  
  
"Mine too." Raven muttered to herself. So they had more in common then she had thought.  
  
"Look, we can stay here in the rain talking, or you can get inside and we can continue our discussion back at my place." Kaiba paused. "Despite what people say, I *don't* bite."  
  
This, at least, got a small smile from Raven, which Kaiba took as a good sign. She stepped back as Kaiba popped open the door. She regarded him closely. "Won't your limo get all messed up?"  
  
Kaiba shrugged. "The cleaners can take care of it." He stepped outside of the limo, and gestured inside with one hand.  
  
Raven sighed. This guy was as stubborn as she was, it seemed. "Whatever then," she muttered as she climbed in. He climbed in as well, then slammed the door closed. He nodded to the driver, and the limo started off.  
  
They sat across from each other, Raven growing somewhat uncomfortable as she realized she was dripping water everywhere. She could easily dry herself up with a spell, but didn't wish to reveal *that* much to the boy.  
  
Kaiba noticed her discomfort, and smiled slightly as he reached under a seat and pulled out a few towels. He handed one to her, then used the other one to start wiping away the water on himself. He noticed she was giving him an odd look. "What? Never hurts to be prepared."  
  
Raven sighed as she started to dry herself, particularly her hair. At least she wouldn't be dripping too much now.  
  
"I never did get your name, you know." Kaiba dropped the towel on the seat beside him, then folded his arms across his chest.  
  
Raven did likewise, leaning back into her seat. "Raven. Raven Alu."  
  
/Raven./ Kaiba mused to himself. /I like that name./ "So what brings you out in the rain?"  
  
"You don't seem like the type who'll pick up strangers off the street," she said, ignoring his question. "Or who'll start a conversation with someone. What's the deal?"  
  
Kaiba noticed the suspicion in her voice. Apparently, she didn't trust people so easily either. He shrugged. "I don't know. You just seem. different for some reason. Not like the rest."  
  
/You have *no* idea./ Raven thought.  
  
The limo pulled through already-open wrought-iron gates and up to the two-story Kaiba Mansion. Raven looked out the window and up at the huge mansion, her face expressionless.  
  
Kaiba watched her, waiting for a surprise reaction of some sort. Eyes widening. A loud gasp perhaps. But none of that happened. She didn't even look awed. More like.bored? Unimpressed? Maybe she came from a wealthy family, and was used to this sort of stuff. But Kaiba had the feeling that that wasn't the case. Maybe she was the type who didn't care for wealth.  
  
A servant opened the car door, holding an umbrella for them. "Sir," he said, nodding his head.  
  
Kaiba stepped out of the limo, briefcase in one hand, taking the umbrella with the other. He nodded his thanks to the man. Raven got out as well, and they walked up to the front door. The heavy oak door swung open almost immediately, a young boy with dark, shaggy hair greeting them. "Big Brother!" he said, smiling. "You're home!"  
  
Kaiba smiled at the boy. "Mokuba. How was your day?" he asked as he and Raven stepped inside.  
  
"Oh, fine." Mokuba looked around his brother at the girl standing behind him. "Who's she?"  
  
"This is Raven. A.friend from school. Raven, this is my brother, Mokuba."  
  
Mokuba widened his eyes. Seto brought home a.friend? He was so stunned, his mouth stopped working. He stood there just staring, his mouth hanging open slightly.  
  
Raven glanced at the boy. "Hey, kid," she said softly.  
  
The boy kind of activated, and mumbled out a "hi."  
  
"Come on. We can talk in the living room. Uhhh." Kaiba didn't have too many guests in his house. "Do you.want something to drink?"  
  
"No thanks. I'm fine." Raven gazed around the place as she followed Kaiba. It was so.bright here. Kind of like the lobby at the apartment complex. Everything seemed made from marble and crystal, from the floors to the walls to the furniture even. They stepped into Kaiba's very spacious living room, complete with a huge TV and stereo and gaming systems, when Raven stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes narrowed as she glanced quickly around the room.  
  
Kaiba saw her expression. "What? What it is?"  
  
"Damn. They've found me," was the reply he got.  
  
"Who? Is someone after you?" he demanded. For some reason, he felt the need to protect her. "Whoever it is, they couldn't possibly have gotten through my security."  
  
Raven looked at Kaiba, a sad expression on her face. "I'm sorry that you're in this as well now." She stopped herself. Wait. Did she just *apologize* to a human? What the hell was going on with her?  
  
"In what as well?" asked a confused Kaiba. Then he saw a dark mass gathering before them. He gasped as it started to grow larger. It looked like some kind of.portal, like the ones he designed in his virtual reality games. Except this one was very real. The portal suddenly shifted and threw itself towards them. Kaiba instinctively turned and wrapped his arms protectively around Raven as the portal swallowed them both. Then, all was dark.  
  
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For some reason, this chapter was all about Raven. *shrugs* Oops. Don't worry, Yami and Yugi will be back next chapter.  
  
Yeah, classes started up this week, which is why it's taken me a while to get this typed up. Since it's only the first week, I'm not sure how much stupid homework I'll be getting every week. It'll probably be a lot though (it usually is). So.I'm not sure how long the updates will take. I'm thinking along the lines of a month (sorry), but I will try to make them shorter. We'll see how everything goes.  
  
Thanks for reading and please review! ;) 


	7. Welcome to Arawn

I think I made my deadline. Yay me!  
  
Thanks to Fanfiction reviewers:  
  
Dark-Tyrell: I guess you reviewed for Ch. 5 on the day that I posted Ch. 6, so you didn't make it into that one's thank you list. My apologies for that. But thanks for reading and reviewing!  
  
SoulDreamer and Dark Fairy7: for your continued support!  
  
Tarika Rania: Yes, Kaiba is the Fourth Illuminite. You'll see in later chapters why he is not so "chummy" with Yugi and co. It plays a big part later on.  
  
Thanks to Mediaminer reviewers:  
  
Calupe: As usual, you are the only one who reviews from this site! Thanks a bunch! :) Oh, and keep writing too!  
  
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Yugioh. And I kinda got this idea from LJ Smith's Nightworld series.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter 7: Welcome to Arawn  
  
Yugi slowly opened his eyes, then raised himself to a sitting position. He took a quick glance around him. Wherever he was, it was really dark. The only "light" was from the dull-bright moon shining dimly above him. Yugi could only make out the outlines of some trees ahead of him. "Yami?" he called out softly. "Where are you?" The edge of his voice was rimmed with fear.  
  
"Right here, Yugi," a calm, familiar voice assured him.  
  
A small, orange-red flame brightened before his eyes, then began to grow in size and brilliance. Yami's face became illuminated by the flames, giving his features an unearthly glow. Yugi stared into the dark, crimson eyes, mesmerized. A flicker of the flame snapped him out of his trance, and he smiled in relief. "Yami. Where are we?"  
  
"Arawn."  
  
Violet eyes widened. "Arawn? Your home world? How-how did we get here?"  
  
"The Elders used their magicks to open a portal and retrieve us. So the hunt has begun." Yami narrowed his eyes. He rose, brushing some dirt off with his free hand. His other hand still held the fireball.  
  
Yugi got up as well, again looking around. "Is it always so dark here?"  
  
Yami nodded. "But I can help with that." Focusing his magick, he tossed the fireball high up into the air, shouting, "Elea i'dolen!" The fireball shattered itself into a million pieces above them, effectively lighting the area around them. Yami turned back to Yugi. "The flames will follow us around, giving some light."  
  
Yugi could now see that there were indeed several trees near them, as well as stone boulders to one side, and high, immense mountain structures to the other. He glanced back at Yami, who was also looking around. "What do we do now?"  
  
The Guardian shook his head. "I'm not sure really. If we're here, then it's more than likely Raven and the others are here as well. We should try to find them."  
  
Yugi nodded his agreement. They started walking towards the mountains, Yami being very alert and cautious of his surroundings. He knew Yugi's "light" presence would attract the dark creatures of this realm like moths to a flame. But he didn't want to tell Yugi, because he knew it would scare him. Yugi kept close to Yami. He had an uneasy feeling about this place. Like something really bad was going to happen. And soon too.  
  
Suddenly, Yami stopped dead in his tracks, narrowing his eyes as he looked around. Yugi, too busy looking around, had failed to notice Yami's sudden stop, and collided into him from behind with a loud, "Oof!" Yami turned in surprise, and after making sure that Yugi was okay, turned his attention forward again.  
  
Yugi felt Yami's body tense up. "Yami, what's going on?" he asked in a low whisper.  
  
"Another portal is opening up." Yami wasn't sure who, or what, was going to come out of it. He readied his magick.  
  
From Yami's fire-light, Yugi could see a large, dark mass starting to form. Soon, it was fully open. Yugi held his breath, waiting for something to come out of it, or for it to come to them. But nothing happened, the portal just kinda *staying* there, wavering in its place. Yugi let out his breath as he shot Yami a confused look.  
  
In a sudden moment, the portal shifted, causing Yugi to jump and grab onto Yami's arm. Yami took a defensive stance, raising his other arm. The portal shifted and swayed some more, until finally two figures came tumbling out of it, landing in a heap on the ground. The portal promptly disappeared.  
  
Yugi immediately recognized the long silver coat as Seto Kaiba's. He had his arm protectively wrapped around the other person's waist. Purple eyes widened as he recognized the girl's long, dark, red-streaked hair. Raven?!  
  
Raven groaned as she opened her eyes. Damn portals. Always with the rough landings. She scowled when she noticed the position that she was in- she and Kaiba were both lying on their sides, Kaiba's arm around her waist. Lying *very* close to each other. "Get off of me," she grunted as she shoved the human's arm off of her, then stood up. She brushed dirt and stuff off from her clothes.  
  
Kaiba's eyes snapped open at the sudden movement. Shaking his head, he slowly raised himself to his feet. He cast a glance around the unfamiliar surroundings. "What the hell happened? How did we get here? And where are we?!" He stopped his parade of questions, noticing the two tri- colored haired boys staring at them. "What the hell are you doing here, Yugi? Somebody better tell me what's going on here!"  
  
"We went through a portal. We're in a place called Arawn. Yami and Yugi were apparently sent here as well. Happy now?" Raven answered quickly with a roll of her eyes. She paused. "Oh, Yami, this is Seto Kaiba, the Fourth Illuminite. Kaiba, this is my cousin, Yami Naur." There, introductions made.  
  
Yami regarded the tall boy closely. "*He's* the Fourth? Are you certain?" Something didn't seem right.  
  
Raven noticed the suspicion in her cousin's voice. "Yes." And quietly, only to Yami, "I'll explain later."  
  
Kaiba shook his head in frustration. "Fourth Illuminite? And that would be.?"  
  
Raven let out a sigh as she quickly explained about the different realms, the Guardians, and their mission to find the Illuminites. There was a long silence as Kaiba absorbed all of this, until he burst out in an uncontrollable laughter. Both Raven and Yami rolled their eyes at his antics, waiting for him to finish. Yami brushed back the bangs from his face, his impatience starting to wear thin.  
  
"You.really expect.me.to believe.all of that "magick" stuff?" Kaiba asked between fits of laughter. He took a few deep breaths to regain control of himself. He hadn't laughed like that in ages, and his chest and sides hurt from it. " 'Magick' does not exist," he said in his normal voice. "And this," he gestured around them, "is all some elaborate set-up, including whatever took us here." He paused. "On second thought, this is rather *too* elaborate of a set-up. I must be dreaming then."  
  
"Kaiba," Yugi said quietly, "all this *is* real. We are all in very real danger. This is no dream."  
  
"Yes," Yami agreed. "And your foolishness will soon get you killed." He glared at the taller boy.  
  
Dark blue crystals shimmering drew everyone's attention to Raven. She was standing, arms raised to the dark sky, eyes closed. "Rin i' mori, natul i' draug." As she said these words, the blue crystals sparkling loosely around her grew brighter, then closed in around her, enveloping her completely. A few seconds later, the crystals died down and faded away, revealing a wolf with reddish-black fur, her golden eyes glittering dangerously. With supernatural quickness, she sprang and leapt at Kaiba, knocking him flat onto his back, her front paws pressing into his chest. ~Let's see if you wake up after I rip out your throat, Kaiba!~ she snarled down at him, teeth bared. Why she had once felt "sorry" for this human, she had no idea. The feeling had long since past.  
  
Kaiba stared up at the wolf, shock and fear evident in his face. His mind seemed to be having trouble processing what he had just seen. Raven was really.a wolf?! Well, he was right when he had told her that he thought she was "different" from everyone else. Kaiba could feel her anger radiating off from her, no doubt caused by his insolence. He really regretted laughing at her explanation of her world now. Smiling a bit shakily, he raised his arms in a "surrendering" gesture, something he rarely did. "Okay, calm down now. I-I believe you. All this *is* real, and not just some dream or illusion."  
  
Raven did not move from her position, instead continuing to glare down at Kaiba. He seemed genuinely sincere.but humans could be so tricky. She felt a firm hand on her shoulder, and turned. Yami was knelt down beside them, and was looking at her with an odd expression on his face. "We have bigger things to worry about, Raven. Besides, I think you've made your point." He stood up.  
  
Letting out what might have been a sigh, Raven slowly got off of Kaiba, who immediately got to his feet as soon as she did. He stared at her in wonder. He wasn't sure if it was from the realization that all this was truly real, from the discovery and shock of seeing Raven turn into a wolf, or from the fact that she (the wolf) had talked to him with her *mind*. It was all too much for him to handle right now.  
  
Yugi came up to the group, glad that the tension had died down some. And that Yami had stopped Raven from killing Kaiba. "Should we try to find Bakura and the others now?"  
  
Yami nodded. "Yes, we'll be much stronger if all four Guardians are together."  
  
~Which is why we won't be finding them any time soon.~ Raven had been surveying their surroundings, and now looked back at the three boys. ~The Elders know of our power as a group. Which is why they have separated us. They also know that we need all four of us to open up the portal back to the mortal realm.~  
  
"So we can't go home?" Yugi asked. Yami sensed his unease at this, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.  
  
The wolf shook her head. ~I'm afraid not. Now come. It's not safe to stay out in the open.~ She started to head off in the direction of the mountains. The others soon followed, Yami keeping his arm protectively around Yugi, Kaiba slowly bringing up the rear.  
  
"Where are we going?" Yugi asked Yami, looking up at him.  
  
"I'm not sure, really," Yami answered. "Raven?" he called up to her.  
  
~To Eiru's house. It's near the base of those mountains.~  
  
Yugi looked up at Yami, a question forming on his lips.  
  
"Eiru is a friend of Raven's," Yami answered before Yugi could ask his question. "She's a very powerful Spellcaster."  
  
"Are you *sure* you know where you're going?" Kaiba called from behind. "I mean, we're in the middle of *nowhere* here."  
  
~I've spent much time hunting in and exploring Arawn, Kaiba. I know my way around.~ She sounded annoyed.  
  
"Hmph," was all Kaiba replied.  
  
The four continued their journey, all a bit uncertain in where they were going. Except, that is, the wolf. Confidently she wound her way around the shrubs, boulders, and large trees that blocked their path towards the mountains, until at last, they came upon a large, bright pink and blue house. It looked so out of place in this world of darkness. Raven shook her head. She seriously needed to talk to Eiru about redecorating. She let out a few short barks, as well as a mental message, ~Eiru? It's Raven. And I. need your help.~  
  
The large, wooden door opened, and a young blonde girl stepped out. She wore a blue and pink outfit, complete with a short pink cape and spirally blue hat. In one hand, she carried a magickal wand with a golden spiral top. Her green eyes lit up when she spotted Raven. "Raven!" she exclaimed happily. She ran over and knelt down to give the wolf a hug and a peck on the cheek. "I wasn't expecting you back so soon."  
  
The wolf nodded her head as Eiru released her. ~Well.yes. Our plans.changed.~ She looked over at Yami and Yugi.  
  
Eiru jumped up and rushed over to hug Yami as well, who had to drop his arm from around Yugi's shoulders. They embraced tightly, and the sorceress gave Yami a peck on the cheek, who smiled in return. She then turned her eyes towards Yugi. "And who is this adorable little boy?" she asked sweetly.  
  
"My name is Yugi," Yugi said shyly.  
  
"I'm Eiru. Welcome to Arawn." She gave him a hug, her eyes widening as she pulled back. "Why.you're a ." she whispered.  
  
~Yes.~ Raven walked up to them. ~And so is Kaiba over there.~ She nodded towards the tall, brown-haired boy. ~They are the reason why we need your help.~  
  
Eiru nodded, understanding immediately. "Yes. It is not safe for them here. Please, come inside, all of you." She headed back into her house, the others following. Inside, hundreds of lit candles were everywhere, reminding Yugi of Yami and Raven's place. Eiru led them into a large room, its walls lined with shelves full of books and odd objects. In the center of the floor, a large circle made up of strange designs was drawn upon it. Eiru gestured for everyone to get into its center, and once everyone was seated within it, she muttered something and waved her wand around a wide circle. Dark magickal energy rose from the strange designs around them, continuing till they reached the ceiling, forming a protective shield around them. Eiru nodded in satisfaction.  
  
"What's that for?" Yugi asked curiously, looking at the dark purplish waves around him.  
  
"We are sitting on a place of great power, and this spell will conceal your presence to the other creatures of this world," Eiru explained.  
  
~Thank you.~ Raven said. ~I knew I could count on you.~  
  
Eiru smiled. "What are friends for? Now, why are you and Yami back in Arawn so soon? I thought the Elders had sent you on a mission?"  
  
Raven sighed as she and Yami began to tell Eiru all that had happened.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Yay, they are in Arawn. Now the fun can began! :)  
  
Translations:  
  
Elea i'dolen!: Reveal!  
  
Rin i' mori, natul i' draug.: To remember the dark, become the wolf.  
  
I think that's it.  
  
Oh, if you couldn't guess from my descriptions, Eiru is the Dark Magician Girl. Yeah, I have no idea how she actually sounds or acts, so I kinda made her.bubbly. *shrugs*  
  
Stupid homework takes so long. I'll update when I can.month maybe? Thanks for reading and PLEASE review! ;)  
  
Oh, and want to read something.odd? Then check out Raven's diary.  
  
diaries.suchisthis.com/ravenwolf/ 


	8. Gifts

Back yet again! Sorry for the long wait. Stupid hw.  
  
Thanks to Fanfiction reviewers:  
  
Soul Dreamer: Yeah, school does bite. Uhh.I like Y x Y too. Thanks for the review!  
  
Calupe: Yay for me! I'm writing, I'm writing.Yeesh! :P Thanks! Ya know, you really don't have to review in two separate places.one is fine by me. Thanks again though!  
  
Thanks to Mediaminer reviewers:  
  
Calupe: I did not delete anything! I have no idea what happened to the review.Hey, I'm trying to update ASAP here. Seriously, I am. Yay! 2 reviews! Heh heh, thanks! LOL as usual you are still the ONLY one who reviews.  
  
Disclaimer: Geez, I don't own Yugioh. And this idea I got from LJ Smith's Nightworld series.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter 8: Gifts  
  
The blonde-haired sorceress looked between the two boys uncertainly. Yami had fallen for a.human? And Bakurian and Marius too? Oh, this was definitely not good. Yami and Raven rarely, if ever, asked for help. So them coming to her meant things were *really* bad. The two human boys were not safe here in Arawn. And with the Elders after them and the Guardians, things became even more dangerous. and deadly. Eiru could not keep them protected for long.  
  
~What do you suggest?~ Raven asked quietly.  
  
Eiru shook her head sadly. "Even with my magick, the Elders will be *very* difficult, if not impossible, to defeat."  
  
"So then it is possible to defeat them?" Yami questioned with a flicker of hope.  
  
~I doubt *any* creature, no matter how powerful they are, can survive getting their heads chopped off, Yami.~ Raven pointed out. ~The hard part is getting near enough to do the job.~  
  
There was a long silence.  
  
"Couldn't we just.talk with them?" Yugi asked, breaking the silence. "Work out some sort of deal?"  
  
Yami shook his head. "The Elders aren't exactly talkative." He paused. "Not to mention they are rather stubborn in their position on things."  
  
"Then we only have one option."  
  
Everyone turned towards the voice: Kaiba, who had been silent up until now. He continued. "We find those other two Guardians, and get the hell out of here. I don't want anything to do with your little war." Deep down, Kaiba knew this wasn't true though. He found himself concerned fro one particular.person.  
  
~You're an Illuminite, destined to bring the fall of Arawn. You don't have a choice in being involved or not. And even if we did make it back to your world, they would still come after us *all*, including you.~  
  
"Then our only choice is to fight," Yami said solemnly. "And win." He looked at his cousin.  
  
She thought about it, then nodded in agreement. ~Yes, but before we attack, we must find Bakurian and Marius first.~  
  
"I'll cast a location spell right away," Eiru said. "In the meantime, you should all get some rest. I'll cast a protection spell around the house first. It's not as strong as being in this circle, but it will be strong enough."  
  
~Thank you, Eiru. I'll help with the spells.~ Raven looked at the three boys. ~Stay close to each other. Just in case.~  
  
"Just in case.what?" Kaiba asked.  
  
~Just in case the Elders attack.~  
  
**************************************  
  
Yami and Yugi sat on a bed in one of Eiru's many guest rooms. Kaiba had taken the room next to them, muttering something about "preferring to be alone." Yami could feel magicks stirring as Raven and Eiru cast their spells. But he had a feeling it would not be enough. Yugi needed.extra protection. Suddenly, Yami had an idea. Smiling slightly to Yugi, he held out a hand, palm up, then closed his eyes, focusing all of his magick on his open palm. There were a few moments of silence as Yugi watched Yami curiously. Yami's eyebrows were knitted together as he concentrated, beads of sweat starting to form on his forehead. At last, small red crystals began to form and swirl around in the center of his palm. Yugi watched with fascination as the tiny red pillar in Yami's palm began to grow smaller and condense itself. With a sharp "Naur var!" from Yami, the red crystals sparkled brilliantly for a split second, then faded away, leaving a small, fine object behind.  
  
The Guardian opened his eyes tiredly, taking a few deep, calming breaths as well. He peered down at the effects of his magick. There, lying in his hand, was a small, red pendant. It resembled three sharp tentacles of a flickering flame, frozen in time and place. At the top of the middle tentacle was a golden hoop, in which a golden chain ran through it.  
  
Yugi gasped at the beauty of the fire-pendant, his eyes widening, mouth dropping open slightly. He had never seen anything so.magickal before.  
  
Yami gently picked up the pendant by its chain, then unclasped the two ends of the chain. Turning to face Yugi, he reached around Yugi's neck, fastening the chain's ends back together. He let go, the fire-pendant hanging limply around Yugi's neck.  
  
Yugi gently traced around the outline of the pendant with one finger. "Thank you so much," he said quietly, looking up to gaze into deep crimson eyes.  
  
"It will help to protect you," Yami said just as quietly. "Help to conceal your Light from the darkness of this world." He let out a tired sigh as he stretched himself along the bed. The magick used to create Yugi's protection amulet was rather draining, and it had used a lot of his energy to do so. He closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to engulf him. Before it did however, he felt Yugi lying down and snuggling up against him. A small smile passed over Yami's lips before he drifted off to sleep.  
  
Yugi smiled as well as he snuggled comfortably against Yami, the fire- pendant clasped tightly in one hand. Soon, sleep overtook him as well.  
  
****************************  
  
Raven stood on the balcony that faced the mountains, staring off into the distance. On the other side of the mountains was the dark castle of the Elders, Castle Istar. The name "Istar" comes from the ancient language, meaning "wizard". A name befitting for the place that houses the most powerful magick in all of Arawn. And it is there they must journey to next. For according to her and Eiru's location spell, Marius and Bakurian were heading in that direction, no doubt searching for them as well. The journey there would be long and very dangerous, the imminent battle with the Elders even worse. Raven was unsure if any of them would even survive. The probability was low.all odds were against them, it seemed.  
  
The Guardian of the West Watchtowers sighed as she ran a hand briskly through her dark hair. She had had to transform back to her human form to help Eiru with the spells, and hadn't bothered to switch back. There must be a way to successfully fight against the Elders. A spell or ritual perhaps. But if it was either, surely the Elders would know of it, and how to retaliate against it. No. This battle could not be won by magick alone.  
  
A sound behind her caused Raven to turn around. To her surprise, it was none other than Seto Kaiba. He looked almost.nervous, but still in his proud, stubborn way, refused to meet her eyes. With a careless shrug Raven turned back towards the mountains. It took a few moments for Kaiba to finally make his way to her sides, moments more to say something. "Look, Raven, I just came out here to.apologize for my earlier actions. It was quite inappropriate for me to laugh at your explanation." He let out his breath with a soft whoosh, as if glad that he had finally said that. He waited anxiously for a response.  
  
Raven stood there, silent and deep in thought. What *was* it with this human? One moment she hated him, the next she didn't, then the next she *did* again. One moment she couldn't care less about whether he lived or not.in the next she was creating a protection charm for him. With an inaudible sigh, she withdrew the small box from within her coat pocket. She looked down, staring at the black box in her hands. With another sigh, she wordlessly handed the box to the tall boy standing next to her. Stupid feelings always confusing her.  
  
Kaiba slowly took the small box from her. She still hadn't even looked at him. As she continued staring off, he gently opened the box. There, on a dark velvety cushion, lay a small pendant, attached to a long chain. The pendant looked like three rising water waves, ready to crash down in the next moment. Kaiba stared, dumbfounded, at the beautiful object.  
  
"Put that around your neck," Raven said in a quiet voice, still looking at the mountains. "It'll help protect you from the creatures of this world."  
  
"Uhh.th-thanks," Kaiba managed to get out. He took the pendant and shakily fastened its chain behind his neck. He normally didn't like wearing jewelry.but for some reason he didn't mind this one.  
  
Raven finally turned to look at him. "It's late. We should both get some rest."  
  
Kaiba nodded. "Right. Thanks again. Good night." He paused. "Sweet dreams." he murmured, almost to himself.  
  
But Raven heard that. "I don't dream. Not any more, anyways," she said in a quiet, almost sad voice. She gave a small smile. "But thanks for the thought. 'Night."  
  
The CEO was a bit taken back by her sad response, but got the feeling that his discussion was over. With a slight nod, he walked back into the house. With one last glance at the mountains, Raven followed.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Whew.finally done! Geez.this chapter was kinda dull, huh? Next chapter should have some more.action in it. Hopefully.  
  
Translations (literal):  
  
Naur var! : Fire protect!  
  
Er.I'm kinda losing.interest in writing this story. It's probably cuz I have so much other stuff to do *coughhwcough* . And it doesn't look like too many people are interested in it anyways. Or because this story is just really *slow* and rather boring too. *shrugs* Eh, I know I'm not much of a writer anyways. So I don't know if I'll continue this story or not. I have midterms coming up next week and the following week, so I don't think I'll have much time to write anyways.  
  
Anyways, let me know what you all think. Thanks for reading and reviewing! ;) 


	9. Attack of the Harpies

Well, hmm. I'm back! I guess I will try to continue this fic. I've sorta come up with some ideas. We'll see how things go.  
  
Thank you to all who reviewed! You're comments are much appreciated!  
  
Mediaminer:  
  
Calupe: Yeah yeah, I'm continuing. You keep writing too! Thanks again!  
  
Charmeleon: Thanks for the review! Er.I guess this story is just kinda slow for me, so that's why I'm a bit bored with it. LOL, geez. I'm getting bored with my own story.that can't be good!  
  
Fanfiction:  
  
Soul Dreamer: Thanks! Glad you like it so far.  
  
Chibi Chibi Tenshi: The language I use for the spells is Elven. Thanks for the review!  
  
Yugi-obsessed: Thanks, glad you like it. Yeah, wolves are awesome!  
  
Kawaii Kitsune: Thanks for the review. I appreciate your comments. Glad you like this story!  
  
Alina3: LOL, thanks for the review!  
  
Dark fairy7: Yeah, I know it's getting dull. I'm even starting to get bored with it! Well, I tried to put some action in this chapter (and plan on putting in more in future chapters too). But I'm not that great at action writing so.I don't know. Thanks for your review!  
  
Grrrrrrr, I can be such a DOLT sometimes! I just recently realized that on Fanfiction I had anonymous reviewers blocked! I'm so sorry about that if you had tried to review but couldn't. Well, I took off the block, but again I apologize! Sometimes, I don't know where my brain is these days.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh. And this idea comes from LJ Smith's Nightworld series.  
  
"blah" is speaking; /blah/ is thoughts; ~blah~ is wolf speaking  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter 9: Attack of the Harpies  
  
The next morning, Yami stepped out of the house, looking towards the mountains looming before him. Harpy's Mountain. And on the other side of it, Castle Istar. They would have to journey through the mountains to get to the castle. It would be much safer, and quicker, to go over the mountains, but they didn't have the transportation means.  
  
Yugi came out of the house as well, and stood next to Yami. Just *looking* at the mountains gave him an uneasy feeling, one hand unconsciously coming up to clutch the fire-pendant dangling from his neck. Yami noticed this, and put a reassuring arm around the smaller's shoulders. "It'll be okay. I won't let anything harm you, I promise." He smiled slightly.  
  
Yugi smiled in return, nodding. "I just don't like the feeling I'm getting."  
  
"Your Light senses are probably reacting against all this.darkness around them. You're not yet used to this world."  
  
Kaiba walked out of the house, looking up at the dark sky. Though there was a "sun" of some sort up there, it was not nearly as bright as it is in his world, giving only a very dull glow. But still enough light to see by.  
  
Raven and Eiru followed the tall boy out, talking quietly to each other. The dark-haired girl nodded, then gave her friend a long hug good- bye. After they parted, Raven smiled slightly, then joined the three waiting boys. They all turned to wave good-bye at Eiru. Eiru waved as well, calling out, "Good luck to you all!" /They are going to need it./ she thought sadly as she watched them go. With a sigh, she turned and walked back into her house. If only she could help them more.  
  
The two Guardians and two humans journeyed silently towards the mountains. Both Yami and Raven were very alert, but it was Yami who sensed the danger first. He glanced upwards, a bit into the distance ahead. It looked like a flock of birds were heading their way, but Yami knew that could not be true. He stopped walking, narrowing his eyes at the sky. The others stopped as well, looking in the direction he was staring. Raven let out a low growl, eyes narrowing. She readied her magick with one hand.  
  
Both Yugi and Kaiba stared at the approaching flock. As they drew nearer, Yugi could make out their forms more clearly: they had the body and head of a woman, but their feet were like the claws of a predatory bird. Their arms were actually a set of fully-feathered wings, with bird-like claws as well. Feathers also covered their chests. "They're beautiful." Yugi whispered in awe.  
  
"Harpies," came Yami's voice. "Beautiful, yes. But extremely deadly. You and Kaiba stay close to me and Raven."  
  
"I'd suggest we make a run for it," Raven commented, "but there really isn't any where to run to." She shrugged. "We'll have to fend them off."  
  
Yami nodded his head in agreement, preparing his magick.  
  
Kaiba looked at the approaching flock skeptically. "There's so many. You sure you can handle it?"  
  
Raven rolled her eyes. "We don't have much of a choice, now do we?"  
  
Kaiba's remark was cut off by a loud shriek, followed by even more shrieks. The Harpies were attacking!  
  
Yami gathered his magick in his hands, then shouted "Naur yanta!" in a loud voice, above the Harpies' shrieks. A tunnel of fire shot out of his hands, straight into the heart of the Harpy mass, causing them to scatter. With another shriek, they swooped up into the air, then dove together again. This time, it was Raven who yelled "Alu yanta!" sending a tunnel of water to once again scatter them.  
  
The Harpies changed their attack mode, staying scattered and now attacking from all directions. Yami's eyes widened in surprise at the change of attack, but quickly summoned his element again, this time shouting "Ram en' naur!" Flames erupted from his outstretched hands in several directions, making contact with many Harpies. They shrieked in pain as they backed off hastily.  
  
Raven fended off another group of Harpies, calling upon her element with a loud "Khelek hurro'!" Sharp icicles emerged form her hands and flew towards the Harpies, striking many.  
  
But the Harpies kept coming at them, endlessly it seemed. In the chaos that ensued, Yugi and Kaiba were separated from Yami and Raven, who were too busy fighting to notice. Yugi tried calling out to Yami, but his voice was drowned out by the shriek of the Harpies.  
  
After what seemed like hours, the Harpies finally began to retreat back towards the mountains. Yami and Raven stopped their attacks, both breathing heavily, tired from the fight. "Why are they leaving?" Raven asked breathlessly, still trying to catch her breath.  
  
Yami looked around worriedly. "Yugi?" he called out anxiously. "Yugi!"  
  
Raven looked for the other human boy. Something was not right. A shout from Yami caused her to turn around. He was holding a fire-pendant by its chain. Yugi's. Her suspicions were confirmed.  
  
Glancing down, she noticed something glinting on the ground. She stooped to pick it up, then stood up, examining it. It was the water- pendant she had given Kaiba. Damn.  
  
Yami's eyes were wide with worry. "Yugi!" he shouted again. But it was no use. He feared the worst had happened: they had captured his Light. This caused an immense anger in Yami to grow as he clenched the fire- pendant in one hand. He let out a growl of anger.  
  
Raven's calm voice floated towards him. "I know where they've taken Yugi and Kaiba. If we hurry, we may be able to reach them in time."  
  
Yami took a deep breath to calm himself, putting the fire-pendant in his jacket pocket. "Where?"  
  
"Harpy's Lair. Top of Harpy's Mountain, of course. We'll have to fly to get there in time."  
  
Yami nodded. "Right. I know who can help." Closing his eyes, he muttered a spell. "Spirit, amin yala lle! Tena amin!"  
  
A dark purple portal opened in the sky above them, and out flew a beautiful, dark stallion, flying on wings of fire. A long, golden spiral protruded from his forehead. Yami smiled as the stallion landed beside him, and he wrapped his arms around his broad neck in a hug. "Hello, old friend. Thank you for coming." He released the stallion and stepped back. "Two lives are in great danger, one that is very important to me. My cousin and I need to get to Harpy's Lair, at the top of Harpy's Mountain. Please, can you help us?" He looked into the stallion's fiery eyes pleadingly.  
  
The stallion snorted and tossed his head back a few times, indicating his agreement to help. Yami nodded his thanks, then went to climb onto Spirit's back. Raven came up beside the stallion, patting his neck hello. Spirit snorted his greeting as Yami helped her to climb up behind him. As soon as she was on, the stallion broke into a quick gallop, leapt, spread his wings, and took flight. As they headed towards Harpy's Lair, Yami thought to himself, /I'm coming, Yugi. I *will* keep my promise to you!/  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Wow, I actually wrote AND typed this all in one afternoon. Yay for me! Usually it takes me several weeks to do so. Guess I was inspired or something, though I don't know by what.  
  
Translations (literal):  
  
Naur yanta! = fire tunnel  
  
Alu yanta! = water tunnel  
  
Ram en' naur! = fire field  
  
Khelek hurro'! = ice storm  
  
Spirit, amin yala lle! Tena amin! = Spirit, I summon you! Hear me!  
  
Yeah, I'm kinda getting a bit lazy on the descriptions, particularly the magick descriptions. *shrugs* It speeds up the story a bit, don't ya think? So how did you like it? More interesting I hope? I have some.odd stuff kinda planned, but haven't thought it through really. I kinda write this chapter by chapter, without much "future" planning. I'll just go with this idea anyways, and if it doesn't work out.well, then, I'll come up with something.  
  
Thanks for reading and please review! :) 


	10. Transformations

Had a day off from classes, so I thought I'd take some time to update.  
  
Mediaminer reviewers:  
  
Hieislover1985- Thanks for the review!  
  
Fanfiction reviewers:  
  
Alina3- LOL, yeah, I guess it was a bit short.I'll try to make them longer. Thanks for the review!  
  
Yugi-obsessed- Thanks for the review! I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying! ;)  
  
Chibi Chibi Tenshi- Elven is the Elf language from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I got it off some internet site (I don't remember which one though). I guess you could say it's "real". Thanks for the review!  
  
Soul Dreamer- Thanks for the review!  
  
Tench-kid98- Thanks for the review!  
  
Dark-inferno- I'm glad you like this fic (and Raven too!). Thanks!  
  
Dark fairy7- Yeah, I'm trying to put some action in it. Try being the word here. Thanks for the review!  
  
Thanks again all! I really appreciated all of your reviews!  
  
Disclaimer: Geez, I don't own Yugioh. And this idea kinda comes from LJ Smith's Nightworld series.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter 10: Transformations  
  
It was cold. And dark too. Yugi sat shivering, his back against the cold wall. Something didn't feel right, but he couldn't place what it was. All he could remember was being swooped up into the air by a Harpy, and seeing Kaiba being picked up as well by another Harpy. He had desperately tried calling out to Yami, but his voice could not reach him over the shrieks of those blasted Harpies. He must have blacked out shortly after that.  
  
A low groan somewhere near him caused Yugi to jump in surprise. Squinting into the darkness, he could barely make out a stirring form to his left. "Kaiba?" he asked softly, hopefully.  
  
"Yugi?" came the confused reply. A pause. "Where are we?"  
  
Yugi breathed in relief at the familiar voice. "I don't know. A prison cell of some sort, it looks like."  
  
Another groan. "I feel.odd. What happened?"  
  
"All I can remember is being taken by that Harpy. We must be in their lair or something."  
  
Before Kaiba could ask another question, the door of their cell swung open with a loud creak. Both boys turned to stare at the doorway, partially illuminated by the burning torches in the hallway. A figure stepped into their room, holding up a torch to her face. Yugi's eyes widened and he let out a loud gasp upon recognizing the face. It was that blonde vampire who had tried biting him in the cemetery!  
  
Isabella smiled faintly, barely showing her fangs. She stepped into the dark room, lifting her torch to light one on the wall. She then shut the door with another loud creak. She continued around the small room, lighting more torches along the walls. The last torch was above Yugi and Kaiba, the latter now kneeling on one knee. Yugi shrank back a bit as the blonde vampire reached above him to light the torch. Images of their last encounter flashed through his head. Kaiba, on the other hand, had his characteristic defiant glare on. "What do you want with us?" he demanded with a tone that expected to be obeyed.  
  
Isabella laughed as she knelt down before the two humans, snuffing out her torch in the dirt. She tossed the now-unlit torch to the side. "My, my, aren't we a bit demanding, considering your current position?" She sighed almost dreamily. "What fun will this be! I can't wait to see the looks on the Guardians' faces when your transformations are complete!" She grinned, fangs now showing fully.  
  
"What-what do you mean, "transformations"?" asked Yugi, trying to keep his voice from shaking. Did that have something to do with why he felt so odd?  
  
The vampire continued grinning. She was clearly enjoying this. "By the time the transformations are complete, your precious Yami won't even recognize you." She leaned closely to Yugi's face, whispering, "Tell me, little Yugi, will he still love you then?"  
  
Yugi's eyes widened at the mention of the word "love".  
  
Satisfied, Isabella pulled back again. "Didn't you know? A Guardian only gives their elemental pendant to those they *love*." Her pretty face turned into a sneer. "*I* never received such from Yami." With a snarl she jumped up and paced around the room. Once on the other side, she whirled to face them. "Yami and I should be together! We were *meant* to be together. He is MINE, and mine alone, and no pathetic little human is going to take him away from me!" She was breathing heavily now, her face twisted with fury. A second passed and she brightened suddenly. "But that will all change soon," she said, almost sweetly, in a kind of sing-song voice. She practically skipped back over to Yugi and Kaiba, and with one hand, drew out a small mirror from her jacket pocket. Kneeling down once more, she put the mirror in front of Yugi's face. "See? The transformation has already begun."  
  
Yugi gasped as he saw his reflection in the small mirror, his eyes widening. H-his ears! They were *wolf* ears! Hesitantly, he reached up with both hands to touch them. They felt coarse, yet soft, just as he remembered how Yami's fur had felt. He stared at the vampire with large, wide eyes.  
  
"And that's not all." With a smile, Isabella indicated with the mirror to the ground next to Yugi.  
  
Yugi looked at where Isabella was pointing to. He let another gasp and jumped up in surprise. He turned his head to look at this backside. Or, rather, at his furry wolf tail.  
  
"Of course, only part of the transformation ritual has been completed. There are still *several* more steps to be done." She continued smiling, enjoying every second of the human's shock.  
  
The boy-turning-part-wolf experimentally swished his tail back and forth a few times. He then looked at Isabella, staring into her cold, cruel eyes. "You may be able to change what's on the outside with your evil magick, but you can *never* change what's on the inside," he said softly. "And Yami loves me for what's on the inside, *not* on the outside."  
  
Isabella narrowed her eyes, her upper lip curling into a snarl. "We'll just see strong and sure that love is."  
  
"And what about me?" Kaiba's deep voice rang out in the silence. "Where am I in this demented obsession of yours?"  
  
"You?" Isabella laughed. "You, my dear Kaiba, are part of my *revenge*." She grinned evilly.  
  
"Revenge? I don't even know who the hell you are!"  
  
"Isabella's the name, torturing pathetic humans is my game. But my revenge is not against you. It's against her. *Raven*." She sneered at the name. "What will she think when she finds that her love has.transformed?"  
  
Now it was Kaiba's turn to laugh. "I'm afraid you are sadly mistaken. Raven is not in love with me."  
  
"Haven't you been listening to a word I've said, Kaiba? I said, Guardians only give their elemental pendants to those they *love*. And didn't Raven give you her water-pendant?"  
  
Kaiba's eyes widened as he lifted a hand to the said pendant.only to find it was missing! "What the." he muttered in disbelief. Yugi reached up for the fire-pendant Yami had given him, to find it gone as well. He gasped at having lost it.  
  
Isabella chuckled low. "I made sure to have my Harpies remove them before bringing you here. You see, with those on, you would have been protected from my spells."  
  
Kaiba blinked a few times. If Isabella was right, then that meant.Raven was in love with him?! Was that even possible?  
  
A thought suddenly occurred to him. "What did you mean, "transformed"? Does that mean I'm." He glanced at Yugi's ears and tails.  
  
"See for yourself." The obsessed vampire held the mirror up to his face.  
  
Kaiba turned his head from side to side, examining his new wolf ears. He didn't need to feel them to know they were real. Standing up, he glanced back at his wolf tail. This was undoubtedly the weirdest thing that ever happened to him.too much was happening at once, making his mind spin.  
  
A thought occurred to Yugi. "What makes you think turning us into wolves will cause Yami and Raven to no longer love us? How do you know changing us to be more like them won't increase their love?"  
  
Isabella laughed. She seemed to enjoy laughing at their expense. "Innocent, stupid boy. I haven't the vaguest idea what Yami could possibly see in you." She paused. "You may have wolf ears and a tail, but whoever said you were going to be turned into a *wolf*?" She grinned. "I only said you'd be transformed. I never said *what* you'd be transformed into."  
  
This caused both Yugi and Kaiba to widen their eyes, and they looked at each other. Then they looked at the cruel-hearted vampire, who had now stood up as well. She placed the mirror back in her pocket. "Well, I think it's time for the next part of the transformation rit-"  
  
Before she could finish, there was a loud crash outside the door. A moment later, the door burst open as a Harpy came crashing through it. She fell in a heap at the feet of the stunned vampire. "What the." Her voice trailed off as she glanced up from the dead Harpy to the figure standing in the doorway, her mouth hanging open.  
  
"YAMI!!" Yugi cried happily as he ran past the vampire and into Yami's awaiting embrace. "I knew you would come." he whispered into his chest. "I knew you'd keep your promise."  
  
Yami smiled as he pulled back a little. "I never break a promise, Little One." His smile turned into a frown when he noticed Yugi's ears and.tail? "What has she done to you?" he whispered in shock, his crimson eyes narrowed with worry.  
  
"A transformation ritual," a voice behind him said. He and Yugi moved aside as Raven stepped into the room. "Powerful magick from the Elders." The dark-haired girl let her gaze wander over to Kaiba. "Nice look." she commented with a slight smirk. Kaiba just stared at her, thinking about what Isabella had said about the pendants.  
  
Meanwhile, Isabella had recovered from her initial shock. "Well, I wasn't expecting you two so soon," she sneered. "How did you manage to get past all of my Harpies?"  
  
"We had some help," Raven said with a shrug of her shoulders. She walked over, placing herself directly between the vampire and Kaiba, who idiotically hadn't bothered to remove himself from harm's way. Humans.  
  
Yami stepped closer as well. "Face it, Isabella. You've lost! Normally, I'd kill you, but for Yugi's sake, I won't." He glanced down at Yugi, knowing how much he hated violence. He looked at Isabella again. "Consider yourself lucky." He started backing towards the door.  
  
Raven, half-dragging Kaiba by the arm (who had somewhat snapped out of his daze), moved towards the door as well. "What a pity, Isabella, to be saved by a *human*. Pathetic really." She smiled.  
  
Isabella's mouth dropped open at the insult. Her shock quickly turned into anger, and she hurled herself at the group with a snarl. But her anger was not directed at Raven. It was directed at the boy, the one whom Yami *loved*. It was all his fault this was happening! With unearthly quickness, she snatched Yugi from Yami, whipping out her dagger from her belt as well. Holding him to her with one arm, she pressed the blade against his neck.  
  
"YUGI!" Yami yelled. Damn! Why hadn't he seen this coming?  
  
"Not another step, any of you!" Isabella shouted. "Or I slit his throat!" She paused. Keeping the blade pressed against his throat, she used her other hand to trail a sharp, blood-red nail against his cheek. She smiled in satisfaction as she felt him shudder a bit. "On second thought, I think I'll kill him anyways." She looked at Yami. "Then you'll be all mine, Yami." she whispered. "All mine at last." She laughed insanely.  
  
Yugi hated violence.but this was an exception. Without Isabella's arm around him, his own arms were now free. Taking the opportunity, he jammed his elbow hard into her stomach. The blade at his neck loosened as she gasped in shock, and Yugi quickly scrambled away from the mad vampire.  
  
Seeing Yugi was free, Yami rushed towards the vampire, tackling her down. The dagger flew out of her hand, scattering to the other side of the room. Isabella was now lying on her back, Yami sitting on top of her, pinning her down. They were both breathing hard. "I'm not afraid of you!" Isabella shouted defiantly. "Your magick can't kill me!"  
  
"But *this* can."  
  
Everyone turned towards Raven. She withdrew a long, wooden stake from inside her jacket. She tossed it towards Yami, who caught it easily in one hand. He gave her a questioningly look as to why she carried a stake around with her, but decided to ask her later. Nodding his thanks to her, he turned his gaze back onto Isabella, raising the stake high above his head.  
  
Isabella's eyes widened when she realized what he was going to do. "Yami." she whispered faintly. "My love, please."  
  
Yami shook his head. "Don't you *dare* call me that. You've harmed my love for the very last time. This.obsession of yours ends NOW!" With that, he brought the stake down, plunging it hard into her heart.  
  
Isabella gasped out his name once more, before collapsing into dust with one final shriek.  
  
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Well, I hoped you all like this chapter. *shrugs* Hope it wasn't too confusing.Yeesh.  
  
Thanks for reading and please review! :) 


	11. Trust

Happy Thanksgiving! (Well, for those of you living in the US anyways).  
  
Thank you to Fanfiction reviewers:  
  
Anime Crazed: Yeah, I know it's a bit slow. I'm working on that. Thanks for the review!  
  
SoulDreamer: Thanks for the review!  
  
Dark fairy7: LOL, thanks for the review!  
  
Yugi-Obsessed: No, don't worry, Yugi and Kaiba will just have the wolf ears and tail. For now.nothing too extreme. ;) Thanks for the review!  
  
Fluffy-kins: The language is Elven (the language of the Elves) from Lord of the Rings. Thanks for the review!  
  
Mistress Ethereal: LOL.well, Isabella as Anzu huh? Heh heh.that certainly wasn't my intention. *shrugs* Yups, Kaiba is a bit slow- he'll get better though. Yeah, I get tired of reading fics where Yugi is so "weak". Thought I'd give him some backbone at least. Thanks for the review!  
  
Thanks to Mediaminer reviewers:  
  
Calupe: LOL, I know! Don't ya just love her? ;) Thanks for the review!  
  
Disclaimer: Still don't own Yugioh. And this idea comes from LJ Smith's Nightworld series.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Chapter 11: Trust  
  
Yami slowly rose to his feet, staring at the now-empty ground before him. The stake in his hand clattered to the ground. He had never wanted it to end like this. Not after all that they had been through together.  
  
The crimson-eyed Guardian let out a soft sigh, closing his eyes as he did so. But that was all in the past. Isabella had proven to be too cruel, her thirst for blood and pleasure of seeing others suffer too great. That is, if there even was such a limit.  
  
Arms wrapped around Yami's waist, dragging him out of his memories and thoughts. He opened his eyes and looked down at Yugi's concerned face, and gave a slight smile. "Are you alright?" he asked softly, returning the embrace.  
  
Yugi nodded, lavender never leaving crimson. "I'm fine. But are you okay? You look terrible!"  
  
Yami knew he was referring specifically to his appearance, but sensed a concern about the death of Isabella as well. "I've been through worst. Trust me." He laughed a little.  
Yugi returned the laugh and snuggled more into Yami's embrace. "I'm just glad we're back together."  
  
"As am I."  
  
Raven watched the two with a bit of longing. If only she could open her heart like Yami could. And yet.  
  
"You're hurt."  
  
The soft, deep voice startled her somewhat, and she looked at Kaiba, who had finally activated. He nodded towards her right arm. Raven glanced down. Damn. Her favorite jacket now bore a large rip on her upper arm. Beneath it, she could see (as well as smell) the blood from a long wound. She shrugged. "It's nothing. Just a scratch from a Harpy on the way here. I'll be fine." She tried to keep the throbbing of her arm from affecting her voice.  
  
Kaiba didn't buy it though. He withdrew a dark blue silk handkerchief from inside his jacket, folded it twice over, then silently tied it around Raven's arm.  
  
"Er.thanks," Raven muttered softly, looking at the make-shift bandage. "You didn't have to do that." Her eyes shifted to Kaiba.  
  
"But I wanted to." Kaiba looked into her beautiful golden eyes, feeling something he's never felt before.  
  
For the first time, Raven began to notice how Kaiba's eyes weren't like hard sapphires devoid of any emotion. They were more like the deep blue waters of the ocean at night.  
  
Raven blinked and shook her head. Where the hell did *that* come from? "Uhh.we should probably get going. Before more Harpies get here," she stated quickly.  
  
Yami and Yugi had been watching Raven and Kaiba with some interest. Something was definitely going on between those two. Yami hoped it was something real. He nodded. "Good idea. Let's get out of here then." Keeping a protective arm around Yugi, he made his way towards the door.  
  
Determined not to look at Kaiba and be caught in her gaze once more, Raven followed, stopping only to bend down and pick up her stake, replacing it back inside her jacket. She heard Kaiba following closely behind her.  
  
********************  
  
The four easily found their way to the lair's entrance, where Spirit and two others awaited. The dark stallion, upon seeing Yami, neighed happily and trotted up to meet him. Yami smiled and placed his hand on the stallion's shoulder. "I'm fine. Good to see you too." He gestured towards Yugi. "This is Yugi. Yugi, this is Spirit, a dear and long time friend of mine."  
  
Yugi gazed at the fiery wings, his eyes wide.  
  
"Don't worry. Spirit would never hurt anyone he doesn't want to. Go on. He wants to say hi." With a gentle shove Yami pushed Yugi towards the horse.  
  
The short boy tentatively reached out a hand to give the horse a small pat. But the stallion surprised him by reaching forward and nuzzling his nose against Yugi's neck. Yugi let out a surprised laugh, wrapping his arms around the horse's broad neck. "Yami!" he gasped between laughs, "it kinda tickles."  
  
Yami smiled, glad to see that they liked each other. He looked at the other two awaiting figures, standing rather far apart from each other. Yami smirked at this, knowing the two never got along too well. Leaving Yugi with Spirit, he walked over to the one clad in rich purple robes, complete with a spiral hat, holding a spellcaster's staff in one hand as he waited. Myrrddin, Eiru's older brother, and his best friend after Raven. "Everything all right?" Myrrddin asked.  
  
Yami nodded. "For now, he's safe. Thank you for your help. I assume there weren't many problems?" he asked with a smile.  
  
The sorcerer smirked as well. "Harpies aren't that powerful. Just annoying as a group."  
  
As they continued to talk, Raven made her way towards the other lone figure, only to be stopped by Kaiba's gentle hand on her good arm. She looked at him questioningly. "You *do* realize that's a *dragon* you're walking towards?" he asked in a concerned voice.  
  
Eyebrows raised at the second time Kaiba showed concern towards her. What was going on here? "Things aren't always what they seem, Kaiba," she said softly. "Nothing is ever certain." she said in a near whisper, looking away now. After a moment, she glanced back at the tall boy, gently pulling her arm away from him. "Come on. You can come and meet Belinos." /I just hope Belinos isn't in a hungry mood./ she thought to herself. She knew the dragon liked to "munch" on humans every so often.  
  
The two made their way towards the great white beast, who was currently lying curled in a ball on the ground. He unwound himself as he saw the two approaching. His sensitive nostrils picked up on Kaiba's human scent, and his blue eyes grew wide with delight. Raven was bringing him another human treat!  
  
Raven caught the look the dragon was giving Kaiba, and had to stifle a laugh. She quickly called out to the dragon, "No, Belinos, you can't eat this one."  
  
At her words, Kaiba stopped dead in his tracks. Did she just say "eat"?  
  
Raven continued walking up to the now-dejected looking dragon, and gave him a small pat on his massive head. "Oh, stop being so grumpy. I did just let you beat up on those Harpies now, remember?"  
  
Belinos perked up a bit at the reminder. Yes, that had been quite fun to do.  
  
The dark-haired Guardian turned back towards Kaiba. "Come closer, Kaiba. He won't bite. I promise."  
  
Before Kaiba could move, however, he suddenly found himself face-to- face with the dragon. The dragon had decided to go to him instead. Eyes wide, Kaiba took a step back. Belinos cocked his head to the side a bit, studying Kaiba. Something was.*different* about this human boy. Besides the wolf ears and tail, anyways. Whatever.for some odd reason, he was beginning to already like this strange human-wolf boy. There was a low rumble in his throat as he lowered his head a bit.  
  
Kaiba stared confusedly at the dragon. What the hell was it doing? He glanced at Raven for some help. "It's his way of saying he won't hurt you. Just pat him on the head to let him know you understand."  
  
Kaiba quickly did as she suggested, not really wanting to anger the dragon.  
  
Yami, Yugi, and the others walked up to them, Myrrddin keeping his distance from Belinos. "Everything alright here?" Yami asked.  
  
Raven nodded, then quickly introduced everyone with a unnoticeable roll of her eyes. She hated always having to do the introductions.  
  
"Umm.why is Myrrddin staying so far away from Belinos?" Yugi asked curiously, looking back and forth between the two.  
  
"They never get along," Yami answered with a shrug.  
  
"Because that stupid dragon is always wrecking my spells," Myrrddin added with a grumble.  
  
Belinos let out a small roar of disapproval at being called "stupid". He looked at Raven for some support.  
  
The girl rolled her eyes, this time much more obviously, and sighed. This little "battle" between the two had been going on for quite some time now. "Myrrddin, you know he doesn't mean to. He's just playing around with you. *Lighten* up a bit."  
  
"Hmph," Myrrddin replied. "Well, he should be more careful, at least."  
  
Raven was about to reply, but was cut off by Yami. "We really should be getting off this mountain. You can continue your argument *after* we deal with the Elders."  
  
Kaiba looked over the edge, a straight, if not bumpy, drop to the ground. "And how do you suggest we do that? By flying?"  
  
"Well, yes actually. But we won't be doing the flying." Yami climbed up onto Spirit's back, then reached out his hand to Yugi. He easily pulled Yugi up behind him. Yugi remembered how he had ridden on Yami's motorcycle with him, and figured this was the same thing. almost. He wrapped his arms around Yami's waist tightly, although he knew that neither Yami nor Spirit would let him fall.  
  
With a shrug Raven climbed up onto Belinos's back with some difficulty, her right arm still throbbing a bit. She looked at Kaiba. "Are you coming? Or do you plan on just *jumping* off the mountain?" She extended out her hand towards him.  
  
The blue-eyed boy looked at her skeptically. "Do you really expect me to get on that.dragon?"  
  
Raven sighed as she shook her head a little. "Must you always be so stubborn? Just get on already. We don't have all day, you know." Her hand was still out.  
  
In fact, the dull "sun" was already starting to disappear from the sky. Night was fast approaching.  
  
Kaiba still looked at her uncertainly.  
  
"Trust me."  
  
The words were so quiet, Kaiba first thought he was hearing things. But Raven's look told him that he wasn't. Slowly, he grasped her hand in his, and she helped him to climb up behind her.  
  
"'Bout time." Yami grumbled under his breath.  
  
The two beasts took off into the air, Myrrddin following, using a spell to levitate himself. They made their way quickly towards the bottom of the mountain, towards the shelter of the forest below. Yugi clutched Yami's waist even tighter as they descended, feeling as if they were on one of those twisty roller-coaster rides at the carnival.  
  
Finally, a clearing was spotted and the small group landed. Yami easily dismounted, then helped Yugi to dismount at well. Kaiba quickly jumped off of the dragon's back, then turned to see if Raven needed a hand. She had already dismounted herself. Myrrddin landed several feet away from Belinos.  
  
Raven looked around the clearing. "Castle Istar is at the heart of this forest. We'll rest here for the night. Myrrddin and I will cast a protection spell, and Yami, you work on getting some light around here. We'll worry about Yugi and Kaiba's.problem in the morning."  
  
The fire-user nodded, easily using his magick to light the area around them. Raven held out her hands and summoned her magick as well. "Amin yala vara tel' seldenire tel' Numen Tirion!" She took out her stake, and with its point began to draw a wide circle on the ground around the group. Blue crystals arose from the ground as she completed her circle. They sparkled slightly as they formed a protective "bubble" of sorts around the group. Raven nodded to Myrrddin, who pointed his staff at the blue bubble with a loud shout, "Ama poldora!" The crystals sparkled brilliantly for a brief moment, then died back down to their original intensity. Raven and Myrrddin nodded to each other, their task complete.  
  
With a sigh, Raven walked over to where Belinos was lying and collapsed onto the ground next to him. She leaned back against him, weary from the spell as well as the day's battle. She noticed Myrrddin giving the others some small tablets. She knew they were "food tablets", sort of like a meal in a pill. It should be able to sustain them for a while. She herself wasn't very hungry; just very tired. All she wanted to do was close her eyes and sleep. The water-user closed her eyes, lying down on the ground, using her arm as a pillow. She smiled slightly as she felt Belinos move one of his wings over her, for her "blanket". He also curled his head towards her, so that they were close together.  
  
Yami tiredly laid down as well, next to Yugi, who was already fast asleep. Smiling gently, he took out the fire-pendent from his pocket and fastened it around Yugi's neck. This time, he has strengthened the chain so that it would not be so easily removed the next time. Yami wrapped his arm around the small one's waist for comfort and closed his eyes. Spirit came up to them, lying down beside them and placing one wing carefully over the two. The fiery wing provided a soothing warmth for the two boys.  
  
Kaiba looked at the two groups, wondering where he should go. He shrugged; figures he'd be the one alone. He decided he'd settle down near a large rock, when a low growl caught his attention. The dragon had lifted his wing off from Raven, and was looking at him with one eye open. Kaiba's mouth dropped open a bit in surprise. It seemed as if the dragon was *inviting* him to join them. He wondered if Raven would mind though. He was still rather uncertain as to how she felt about him.  
  
Raven opened her eyes and groaned a bit to herself. She sat up and looked at the tall human-wolfish boy. With a sigh she called out softly, so as not to wake the others. "You can join us, Kaiba. I don't. mind."  
  
Kaiba slowly walked over to them, sitting down next to Raven. She stared at him for a moment before reaching into her pocket. She pulled out the water-pendent that the Harpy had snatched off of him before. "I think you dropped something." She held out the charm from its chain towards him. "I strengthened the chain this time. It'll be harder for anything not human to take off now."  
  
Kaiba silently took the charm from her and placed it back around his neck. "Thanks." He paused. "You can call me Seto, by the way." Only Mokuba ever called him that.  
  
Raven looked at him with surprise, then smiled slightly. "Alright then. Goodnight, Seto."  
  
"Goodnight, Raven."  
  
They both lay down, and after a moment's hesitation Kaiba wrapped his arm around her waist. Belinos grinned to himself and he lowered his wing back down over them. He could tell there was something going on between these two.  
  
Myrrddin sat on a large rock, staff in hand, keeping guard over the others. He didn't need much sleep anyways. He looked deep into the forest, his magick senses picking up on the magick vibrating from the walls of Castle Istar. They were getting close.  
  
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Whew, done! So not much happened in this chapter. More developing (or attempt at developing anyways) of some relationships. Some loose ends tied up. Yeah, you know I think slowly here. Ok, so I know the Blue Eyes White Dragons aren't exactly.er...the "playful" kinda type. But oh well. This one is really young, so he still kinda likes to fool around.whatever.  
  
Translations:  
  
Amin yala vara tel' seldenire tel' Numen Tirion!: I summon the protection of the West Watchtower!  
  
Ama poldora!: Strengthen!  
  
Thanks for reading and please review! ;) 


	12. Dreams

No, I'm not dead. Just been busy for the past month or however long it's been since I last updated. Stupid finals (always a pain), a non-writing project that I had to finish, and then all the holiday crap to top it off. Yeah, I'm not much of a "holiday's person". *grumbles*  
  
Mediaminer reviewers:  
  
Calupe: LOL, Belinos eating Kaiba.yeah, that would so funny, but it would kinda screw up the story line some. Heh heh, thanks for the review!  
  
Love magick what eles?! i love it !!: Thanks for the review!  
  
???: Umm.Kaiba finding a pet monster, I'll try.but him switching bodies with Yugi? Don't think that'll work with the story line. Thanks for the suggestions and the review!  
  
Technical Dragon: Thanks for the review!  
  
Fanfiction reviewers:  
  
Charmeleon: Well, action's not really my strong point, but I do have some more planned. Thanks for the review!  
  
Soul Dreamer: Thanks for the review!  
  
Alina3: LOL.thanks for the review!  
  
Mistress Ethereal: Yeah, don't worry, Bakura and Marik will be returning soon. Thanks for the review!  
  
Yugi-Obsessed: LOL, yeah they do still have the wolf ears and tail (which is why Belinos refers to Kaiba as the "human-wolf boy") ;) Thanks for the review!  
  
Anime Crazed: Thanks for the review!  
  
Dark Fairy7: You got it! :) Thanks for the review!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't, of course, own Yugioh. And this idea originally came from LJ Smith's Nightworld series, but I've changed it around quite a bit.  
  
Warning: There's a bit of death in this chapter. It's not all that descriptive, but it's there.  
  
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Chapter 12: Dreams  
  
Yugi ran as fast as his short legs could carry him, down the long, dark corridor. He didn't know exactly where he was heading, but he knew he had to get there fast. He could sense that Yami was in great danger, and he had to help. One thought ran throughout his mind: Find Yami.Find Yami.  
  
At last, Yugi burst into a large room and skidded to a halt, his amethyst eyes growing large, his mouth dropping open slightly. A hand rose to clutch the fire-pendant hanging from his neck as he struggled to take in deep breaths. There was so much dark energy in this one room! It seemed to be nearly suffocating him.After those first few moments of shock, his eyes finally took in the horrible scene before him: the four Guardians were battling against a large host of gruesome-looking things. Things that looked long-dead, and should have stayed that way, too. With their decayed and decomposing bodies, their deadly weapons, they threw their might against the Guardians.  
  
In a blur, Yugi watched as one by one, the Guardians fell. First Bakurian to a creature with six arms, each holding a long sword. The Eastern Guardian was slashed across the chest as another sword was driven deep into his gut. Marius was the next to fall, his Earth element not being able to withstand the host of ghouls overwhelming him. With a cry he disappeared among the midst of those ghouls.  
  
Now, there were only two Guardians left. Raven battled against a lone vampire with dark hair, holding a long sword with a wolf's skull on its hilt. She parried off his attacks with a stake in one hand, a dagger in the other, as well as occasionally calling upon her element for aid. When it looked as if she was about to take the upper hand, a blast of dark magick came out of nowhere, throwing her against a pillar, her weapons clattering across the ground. Yugi looked towards the direction of the blast, at an old man in dark black robes, his arm extended. Yugi shuddered when he noticed the man's "eyes": cold and black, with no emotion at all in them. He turned back towards Raven, then immediately regretted that he did. He shut his eyes as the vampire buried his blade into her chest. He could hear Kaiba somewhere in the background screaming her name.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Yugi opened his eyes and sought out the lone Guardian left. Yami. His Yami. He watched horror as Yami fought against a very familiar looking female vampire. One with blonde hair. But this time, Isabella was different: now brought back from the dead, no doubt by the dark magicks of the Elders, she was much more deadly. More powerful. She had already driven Yami back against the wall, and was closing in fast. Tired and bloodied, there wasn't much Yami could do. Yugi watched as Yami let forth one final burst of fire, which Isabella deflected easily with a flick of her arm, then swung her blade down with her other arm. As the blade sank into Yami's chest, his crimson eyes locked onto Yugi's purple ones, and he mouthed the words "I'm sorry.I love you." Then those eyes closed forever as he slumped onto the ground.  
  
Tears blurred Yugi's vision as he turned once more towards the old man in dark robes, now joined by three others. The vampire who killed Raven as well as Isabella joined them now. They all turned their gazes towards Yugi, grinning in triumph. They had won.  
  
*************************************  
  
Yugi awoke with a loud gasp, struggling into a sitting position. Beside him, Yami sat up as well, looking very concerned. "Yugi! What's wrong?"  
  
"Th-that dream! It was horrible, Yami! I saw.I saw." Tears came to his eyes as the vivid images flashed through his mind.  
  
Yami shushed him gently as he gathered him into his arms. "It's alright, Yugi. I'm here. I'm here." He continued murmuring into Yugi's ear to calm him down. Spirit had awoken as well, and moved closer to drape one wing over the two boys. Once Yugi had calmed down, and was no longer breathing rapidly, Yami asked gently, "What did you see, Yugi?"  
  
Taking a few more deep breaths, Yugi said shakily, "I saw.your deaths. All of your deaths. Bakurian's, Marius's, Raven's, yours." He trailed off, looking at Yami with large eyes. "Isabella was back, Yami! She was back. And she could deflect your fire too. She.she." He could not bring himself to finish, but Yami understood him well.  
  
"Isabella back?" he muttered. "This is definitely the work of the Elders. What else did you see, Yugi?"  
  
"I saw *them*. The Elders. They were wearing black robes, and one of them helped a vampire when he was fighting Raven. The vampire had dark hair, and was holding a sword with a wolf's skull on its hilt."  
  
Yami's eyes widened in shock. "A wolf's skull? Then it must be." He trailed off, his eyes growing dark, a low growl coming from deep within his throat.  
  
Yugi looked at him curiously. "Who is he, Yami?"  
  
"Angus. The human boy who betrayed Raven to gain his immortality."  
  
Yugi could hear the resentment and anger in his voice. "So he's back too then. Yami, what are we going to do? What if this dream is some sort of.premonition? I-I don't want to lose you." He trailed off sadly.  
  
His words calmed the anger in Yami, who tightened his arms around Yugi. "You won't. We'll figure out a way to defeat the Elders. I promise you." He leaned down and gently pressed his lips against Yugi's, whose eyes widened in shock, then closed as his lost himself in the kiss, the images from his dream starting to fade away. His arms rose to wrap themselves around Yami's neck, intensifying the kiss. Yami pulled back a little, his eyes full of emotion as he breathed out the words, "And I never break a promise."  
  
Meanwhile, Kaiba slowly opened his eyes. Though he was not much of a morning person, he always awoke when the sun rose- even in this strange land that he was currently in. As he rose to a sitting position, a hand rose to gently stroke the water-pendant hanging from his neck. His mind wandered back to what that psychotic vampire had said: Guardians only give their elemental pendants to those they *love*.  
  
Love. The word echoed throughout Kaiba's mind as his hand continued to stroke the cool metal pendant. Love. Could what the vampire said be true? Did Raven actually love him? Or was that just another trick of the demented vampire? He shook his head, trying to clear away all those questions. With a sigh, he leaned back against the white rock behind him, closing his eyes. The rock was surprisingly comfortable.Kaiba's eyes flew open. Wait a minute.he didn't recall falling asleep near a *rock*. Startled, he looked behind him, his eyes catching the one lazy opened eye of Belinos. Their blue eyes locked for a moment, before the dragon finally "sighed" as he began to rise. Kaiba hurriedly scrambled to his feet and out of the way as the dragon stretched out his long tail, then his long neck, and finally his wings. Then he promptly curled back into a ball and closed his eyes. Apparently, Belinos didn't like mornings so much either.  
  
Now that he had avoided being accidentally whacked from the dragon while he stretched, Kaiba swept his eyes around the small clearing, falling on the girl who haunted his thoughts. She was standing where the clearing's edge met the dark forest, gazing into its depths, deep in thought. He quietly approached her, coming to stand next to her. He followed her gaze into the dark forest, but failed to see anything..unusual. There were a few moments of silence until Raven spoke.  
  
"We're almost there, Seto." She spoke very quietly, barely above a whisper. "Just past this small forest are the dark gates of Castle Istar. The Elders probably already know we are coming, and will have guards protecting the gates. We can't just fly over there, either, since they can just send an aerial arsenal against us. We'll have to attack head on. It won't be easy getting through their guards." She closed her eyes and sighed deeply.  
  
Kaiba sensed words could not ease her troublesome thoughts, so he simply put an arm around her shoulders. Raven opened her eyes at this, finally turning to look at him. "You're going to get through this. You're going to get out of this place, back to your little brother, back to your own normal life. Everything will be the same again, and all this will just seem like a nightmare." She smiled slightly. "And you'll make it back without those ears and tail."  
  
He looked down into her golden eyes. "Don't you mean "we"?" he asked, his voice low and husky. "Don't you mean *we'll* get through this, *we'll* get out of this place?"  
  
She didn't reply, only shook her head slightly as a wistful smiled flitted across her lips. She looked away from him.  
  
More silence followed, until Kaiba spoke again. "You're wrong about one thing, Raven."  
  
She shifted her eyes back to him, and their gazes locked. "Nothing will ever be the same again. Nothing."  
  
Another sad smile briefly crossed her lips. "No, I suppose you're right, Seto. Nothing will ever be the same again. For any of us."  
  
Yami and Yugi approached them, with Myrrddin following close behind them. Yami quickly told everyone about Yugi's dream. Raven growled at the mention of Angus, her gaze darkening. So, now the traitorous vampire was in league with the Elders. And the psychotic Isabella was back as well. It seemed like all of their enemies were coming together against them, with only one thing on their minds: their deaths. Their possibility of surviving was dwindling with every passing minute.  
  
Then suddenly, an idea came to Raven, and her eyes widened. It was risky, and would require some sacrifice.she glanced at the tall boy who still had his arm around her.but if it worked, then the sacrifice would be well worth it.  
  
Yami recognized the look on his cousin's face. "Raven?" he asked questioningly.  
  
She snapped out of her gaze. "I have a plan. One that will defeat the Elders once and for all. But we must find Bakurian and Marius first. We'll need the four of us for this to work."  
  
Yami regarded her closely. "What kind of plan?"  
  
"I'll explain once we find the others. Now come. We're going to the gates of Castle Istar." She removed Kaiba's arm from around her shoulders, looking at him as she did. "Stay close to me," she said softly. "This is going to get very dangerous."  
  
Their eyes locked as Kaiba nodded and replied, "Be careful."  
  
Raven nodded as well, then raised her arm towards the bluish bubble that had protected them over the night. "Kshonna wanya!" The blue crystals fell to the ground as the spell was broken. She lowered her arm then looked at Belinos, who had come up to her. Placing one hand on his massive head, she looked straight into his eyes. "I know you want to help, Belinos, but I'm going to ask that you leave now. Go home. I don't want to risk getting you hurt."  
  
Yami took his cousin's cue and asked Myrrddin and Spirit to leave as well. She was right: this was their battle after all. They shouldn't be further risking the lives of their closest friends.  
  
After much debate and arguing, Myrrddin and Spirit were finally convinced to leave, though very reluctantly they did. Belinos, on the other hand, was a different matter entirely. No matter what was said, the stubborn dragon refused to leave. Finally, it was Raven who conceded and allowed him to stay. If dragons could grin, this one was grinning now at getting his way.again.  
  
Everything now being settled, the group started off into the dark forest, everyone keeping their guard up, Yami and Raven ready with their elements. For the first hour or so of traveling, nothing happened. Then, Yami suddenly stopped, one arm pushing Yugi protectively behind him. The others stopped as well, looking around. No one knew what to expect, until a shrill squeal was heard as a brown fur ball dropped from the trees above them. It landed right in front of Kaiba, who jumped back startled. The fur ball had large eyes and four green claws. Yami sighed in relief. "It's only Kuriboh. A very playful little creature."  
  
The small fur ball looked up at Kaiba before letting out another squeal and jumping up and down in the air in front of him. Kaiba watched with a frown as the thing bounced around in front of him, waving its little limbs around frantically. "*What* is it doing?" he asked in an annoyed tone.  
  
Raven narrowed her eyes. "It's warning us of danger," she said in a low voice. "They're coming for us."  
  
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Ooo.cliffhanger-ish. Well, I hope this chapter was a bit more interesting. Yami and Yugi finally shared their first kiss. Ick.that part didn't turn out quite like I wanted.but good enough. And the dream thing.guess I'm not too creative in deaths, now am I? *shrugs*  
  
Translations:  
  
Kshonna wanya! : Dispel!  
  
Hope you liked this chapter! Thanks for reading and please review! 


	13. Reunion

Ugh.I hate school! I barely have the time to write.bleck!  
  
Fanfiction reviewers:  
  
Mistress Ethereal: LOL, yeah I guess both can be a bit stubborn. :) Thanks for your review!  
  
Yugi-Obsessed: Thanks for the review!  
  
Mediaminer reviewers:  
  
Technical Dragon: Thanks for the review!  
  
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Yugioh.  
  
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Chapter 13: Reunion  
  
As the small brown fur ball continued its frenzied dance of warning, Raven quickly swept her eyes over the forest around them. The others were looking as well. Suddenly, Belinos let out a roar of warning as he spotted some creatures approaching them from behind. Yami spotted more coming from their right, and Yugi spotted some from the left. At the same time, both Raven and Kaiba saw a host of ghastly creatures coming from directly in front of them. The group quickly shifted so that Yami, Raven, and Belinos formed a protective circle around Yugi, Kaiba, and Kuriboh. To Kaiba's dismay, however, the little fur ball had decided to make him his new buddy, pressing itself against his leg. Kaiba looked briefly down in annoyance, but then quickly turned his gaze upwards again. Now was not really the time to worry about that.  
  
Both Yami and Raven recognized the creatures that were advancing towards them. They were minions of the Elders, conjured up by the darkest of magicks. These were the vampires that had been killed, by stake, by fire, or by beheading, and had turned into a pile of dust. But now, they had risen again, the dead of the undead. With their flesh dripping and sagging from their bones, they could no longer pass as humans, as normal vampires usually could. They were more powerful than normal vampires as well. They felt no pain, no remorse over what they did, nothing. They only existed to serve the Elders, to carry out their evil tasks. They were relentless, not stopping until their task was completed. Only then would they return to dust.  
  
Yami narrowed his eyes as he focused on summoning all of his magick. Taking a deep breath, he raised both arms towards the sky and shouted, "Ram en' naur!" towards the advancing things. Fire gathered between his hands briefly, then shot out, blanketing the area in front of him. It pushed the demons back some, stopping them momentarily in their tracks. But still they came.  
  
Belinos roared in annoyance and frustration as his white fire attacks were not doing much. He let out attack after attack, but whenever one group of gruesome things was blasted away, another would quickly replace it. Some even managed to get close to the tall human-wolf boy standing behind him, but Belinos was fast and quickly snapped his tail at the offending things, sending them back into the masses of their fellow minions. Kaiba saw what the dragon did for him, and nodded briskly his thanks. But his attention quickly returned to Raven.  
  
Raven had her arms raised, just as Yami did, using her element to flood the area before her with icy waters, washing away the approaching minions. Apparently, they were not very good swimmers. However, she could not keep this up for too long. There had to be another way.  
  
Yugi looked wide-eyed from Yami, to Belinos, to Raven, and back to Yami again. He could tell they were starting to tire. And he had a feeling those gruesome things could tell as well. But what worried him even more was that he *recognized* these things. They were the ones attacking the Guardians in his dream. He desperately hoped that the outcome would not be the same.  
  
Suddenly, a familiar voice shouted, "Villa yanta!" as a torrent of wind whipped through the demon masses, scattering them far and away from the group of six. All stopped their attacks and turned towards the direction of the wind. Yugi's eyes lit up as he spotted two familiar-looking pointy hairstyles, one blonde and the other white. He ran out to greet and hug his two friends. "Marik! Bakura! You're alright! I'm so happy to see you both!"  
  
Marik frowned. "Well, *almost* alright anyways." He looked behind him as he raised a long slender pointed tail. "We ran into one of Bakurian's old "pals"."  
  
Bakura, who sported a similar looking tail, nodded. "Yes. Someone with a very deep grudge against Bakurian. But Yugi, why do you and Kaiba have ears and a tail?" He looked very confused, thinking how could the spell that had given him and Marik a tail possibly affected Yugi and Kaiba as well.  
  
"We ran into a bit of trouble with someone that knew Yami. A vampire named Isabella."  
  
Marik frowned again. "Apparently, we picked the wrong side to join," he grumbled under his breath.  
  
As the friends traded stories of their adventures, the Guardians greeted each other as well. Bakurian punched Yami lightly on his shoulder. "Heh, saved you again, now didn't I Yami? Good thing I came along to scatter your problems away with my wind." He grinned.  
  
Yami rolled his eyes in return. "Still doesn't compare to the number of times I've saved *your* butt."  
  
Bakurian only frowned in reply.  
  
"Enough bickering you two," Raven said. "We have other things to worry about than whose saved who more times." She paused. "Now, I have a plan to- "  
  
An aggravated cry interrupted her before she could finish. She glanced over her shoulder before turning fully in the direction of the cry. It appears Kaiba was having some trouble with his new-found "friend". The little fur ball was jumping around, from the ground to a tree, to Kaiba's shoulder, to another tree, to the ground again, back to Kaiba's shoulder. Kaiba, meanwhile, was trying to swat it away with his hands, but not having much luck there. Even Belinos was trying to help, using his tail to swat also at the fur ball. But Kuriboh was fast, deciding to make a game out of the entire thing, and continued jumping around.  
  
Raven shook her head as she walked towards the group, raising an arm and sending a gently wave of magick towards the bouncing creature with a soft, "Lanta kaima." The creature immediately stopped mid-jump, closing its eyes and falling to the ground with a soft thump. Raven stood next to the now- sleeping fur ball as Kaiba breathed in a sigh of relief. He watched as Raven let out a low strange whistle of a tune, then gasped in surprise, taking a step back towards the dragon, as a whole mass of furry little creatures came tumbling down from the trees. They gathered up the sleeping one, then scurried back up into the tree tops.  
  
Raven watched the retreating band of fur balls before turning back towards the others. "Now, as I was saying," she continued, "I have a plan that will defeat the Elders once and for all. But it demands certain.sacrifices."  
  
At this point, Yugi and the others had joined them as well. They were giving each other worried looks. Sacrifices?  
  
"What do you have in mind, Raven?" Yami asked his cousin. He was ready to do anything if it would mean that Yugi would be safe.  
  
"We summon Slifer the Sky Dragon."  
  
The other three Guardians looked at her, their eyes wide with shock, as they considered her statement. Was this the only way to win?  
  
Yugi looked curiously between the faces of the four Guardians. He hated asking a stupid question, but. "Umm.who's Slifer?"  
  
Yami sighed. Of course Yugi and his friends wouldn't know who Slifer was. How stupid of him not to explain. "Slifer the Sky Dragon is a monster of the gods. Not many times has he been summoned, for he is indestructible. No one, except perhaps another god monster, can match up to his power."  
  
"So why didn't you guys just summon him in the first place then?" Kaiba asked a bit off-handedly. "We could have been out of this place by now."  
  
Raven shook her head in dismay. The boy understood so little about their world. "Because, as I have said before, there are certain sacrifices that are demanded when summoning the aid of a god."  
  
"What kind of sacrifices?" Yugi asked, concerned. He hoped they weren't too great. But he knew his hope was in vain, knowing that probably to summon such a powerful monster would demand something great.  
  
"We.we would have to sacrifice all four of our elemental magicks," Raven answered very quietly. She glanced at Kaiba. "Now do you understand why we have waited, to see if there is another way?"  
  
Kaiba was silent, lowering his eyes to the ground.  
  
"And.and there isn't any other way?" Yugi asked quietly.  
  
Both Yami and Raven shook their heads silently.  
  
There was a long silence as everyone thought of the situation at hand, until Bakurian broke out in an angry voice, "Of course there is another way! I say we march through those gates and right into Castle Istar and defeat those old fogies in robes with our magick. We can take them!"  
  
"I agree!" Marius joined in. "Why bother to sacrifice our powers to some god when we can win just fine on our own?"  
  
Yami and Raven looked at each other. They should have known Marius and Bakurian would never give up their powers without a fight.  
  
Yugi vividly recalled the images of his dream. "But what if you can't win on your own?" When the two Guardians gave his strange looks, he quickly described his dream to them.  
  
"Pfft," Bakurian huffed, "it was a just a dream. Nothing to be alarmed about."  
  
"Two on two." Raven murmured to herself. "Stalemate. We can't summon Slifer without Bakurian and Marius, and they will need our help to take the Elders head on."  
  
Marius started walking towards the gates of Castle Istar, motioning for Marik to follow him. Bakurian and Bakura started to follow as well. "Well, we're going with or without you," Marius called over his shoulder. "If you want to give us a fighting chance, I suggest you all follow us."  
  
Raven narrowed her eyes and growled slightly. They were forcing their hand. Seems they finally decided to not listen to her any more. They couldn't have picked a worse time, either. She glanced at Yami, who nodded his agreement, then turned towards Kaiba. "Come on, Seto. We're going to Castle Istar," she said in a quiet voice.  
  
Kaiba could tell she was not happy with this at all, but only nodded and followed her. Belinos followed close behind the two.  
  
Yugi walked side-by-side Yami, having to walk a bit faster in order to keep up. He looked up at the crimson-eyed boy. "Yami, do you think you guys have a chance?"  
  
Yami glanced down at the small boy. He wanted to reassure the boy that everything would be alright, that they did have a chance. But he couldn't bring himself to lie to him. "I don't know, Yugi. I honestly don't know." He looked forwards again.  
  
Yugi turned his glance forward as well. He had a very bad feeling about this, one that was shared by both Yami and Raven. Ahead of him, he just see the outlines of the dark gates of Castle Istar. Soon, now.  
  
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Whew, done! I hope this chapter was somewhat interesting. Ack, I stink at fight scenes. So at last they have reached Castle Istar. Wonder what fun await them there?  
  
Translations:  
  
Ram en' naur! : Fire field!  
  
Villa yanta! : Wind tunnel!  
  
Lanta kaima : Sleep  
  
Unfortunately, I have stupid classes now *grumbles*, so updates will be very irregular. I don't have the slightest clue when I'll have the next one. I'll try very hard to put aside some writing time though.  
  
Thanks for reading and please review! ;) 


	14. Surprises

So it's been a while. Sorry. Damn midterms and essays. Ugh. Anyways, since it's Spring Break, I've got some time now to write. Slight problem though...er...I started this fic last summer, and I'm a bit lazy to re-read what I've already wrote. And my memory is not so good...so, if there are any inconsistencies that you happen to notice, sorry about that. *shrugs* What can I say? I'm lazy. ;)  
  
Fanfiction reviewers:  
  
Yugi-obsessed- glad you liked it! Thanks for the review!  
  
Mistress Ethereal- Thanks so much for the nice comments. I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for the review!  
  
Soul Dreamer- LOL, yeah I kinda "borrowed" the term. I've only seen Inuyasha once, and he happened to use Wind Tunnel that time. Lucky me, eh? Thanks for the review!  
  
Tarika Rania- Wait and see! :) Thanks for the review!  
  
Mediaminer reviewers:  
  
Calupe- LOL, thanks for the review! At least one person from here is still reading! ;)  
  
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Yugioh.  
  
Warning!! Character death in this chapter. Though not at all graphic.  
  
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Chapter 14: Surprises  
  
As the group of nine approached the dark iron gates of Castle Istar, the dread that Yugi was feeling intensified considerably. The closer they got to the Castle, the more he could feel the dark magicks radiating from it. He shuddered a bit as he felt a strong wave wash over him. What were they up to?  
  
Yami answered his unspoken question. "The Elders are calling for all of their forces to come to the Castle. In a matter of hours, all the demons, vampires, werewolves and any other creature that live here in Arawn will be here, ready for the upcoming war. Sides will be chosen, alliances made, and the final battle will begin."  
  
War? Sides chosen? Yugi shook his head. "What do you mean by "sides"? Aren't all the creatures here in Arawn under the rule of the Elders?"  
  
"Yes, but there are many who despise them, tire of their rule. As a group, they are the most powerful creatures because of their age. You see, they were here from the very *beginning* of the Arawn's existence. They *created* Arawn."  
  
Raven came up to them. "Which is why it is incredibly foolish of us to go up against them *alone*." She shot a nasty glare at Bakurian and Marius, who were walking up ahead of them. "We don't have much of a chance against their power."  
  
"Raven, could you *be* any more pessimistic?" Bakurian called up from ahead. He turned to look at her. "Have a little faith in our powers. We *are* the Guardians of the Watchtowers, you know. We are quite strong, if I do say so myself."  
  
Golden eyes narrowed dangerously at him. "Your arrogance will be the end of you," she stated coldly. "We control four elements. They control all the dark magick of this world. We may be strong, but they are stronger still."  
  
"Pfft," Bakurian snorted. "You worry too much."  
  
Raven muttered her reply under her breath, which Yugi couldn't understand. Didn't sound too nice though, so it was probably best that he didn't.  
  
They had arrived at the gates. Yugi stared up at the dark iron gates looming before him, his eyes large and wide. The gates were old and corroding, looking rather rusty. Behind the gates were two very large black doors. Yugi could slightly make out some symbols etched onto the dark wood. Didn't have a clue what they meant though.  
  
As if it was expecting them, the gates swung open with a loud creak first, then the heavy black doors behind them opened as well. The wide corridor revealed looked long, lighted solely by torches down both sides. It looked strangely familiar to Yugi...  
  
A small gasp escaped from Yugi as he recognized where he had seen that corridor from before, and he grabbed onto Yami's arm. Yami glanced down in concern. "What is it, Yugi?"  
  
Yugi could barely find his voice. "Th-that corridor...I recognize it. It's exactly like the one from my dream..."  
  
Marius rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Oh, knock it off with that dream already, will you? It's getting tiring. Annoying little human."  
  
Yami narrowed his eyes at Marius. "It's not uncommon for humans to have premonitions. I still think we should be taking Yugi's dream seriously."  
  
"Yes," Raven agreed. "It is still not too late to summon Slifer."  
  
"And give up our powers?" Marius retorted. "Never. I don't believe in that premonition crap. We can defeat the Elders on our own just fine."  
  
Raven motioned towards the fire-lit hallway. "Then go right ahead." Marius and Bakurian walked in first with Bakura and Marik next to them. Yami and Yugi went in next. With a sigh, Raven shook her head and went in as well. Belinos nudged Kaiba with his nose, who finally stepped into the hallway. No sooner had Belinos stepped in, that the massive doors slammed shut, the noise echoing down the hallway. Raven quickly walked back to the door and tried the handles. They were locked. She looked at the others. "Looks like only one way to go, now."  
  
The group proceeded slowly down the long corridor, cautious of any thing that might pop up out of nowhere. Halfway down, and still no sign of any disgusting creatures, Kaiba remarked a bit casually, "Shouldn't there be any... guards posted?"  
  
Raven nodded. "Usually, there are guards lined down both sides. Something is not right."  
  
"They are probably all waiting for us in the Throne Room," Yami said thoughtfully.  
  
"Wonderful," Raven muttered. She looked at Yami. "Perhaps..." she said slowly, "the humans should wait here with Belinos then? We don't know what kind of trap the Elders are planning. And if they are all waiting for the moment we step into the Throne Room, then..." she trailed off.  
  
Yami nodded his understanding. "Then Yugi and his friends will be at great risk. It is probably safer for them to stay behind."  
  
Images of himself running down the long corridor flashed through Yugi's mind. "No way! I'm staying with you!" He looked up pleadingly at Yami.  
  
Yami stopped and knelt down beside Yugi, so that they were at the same eye-level. He placed both hands on his shoulder, and locked gazes with him. "Yugi, I can't fight at my best if I am constantly worrying about your safety. If you stay here with Belinos, then I know you'll be safe and away from harm. Do you understand?"  
  
Yugi shook his stubbornly. "But what if those things come after us here? I'm no safer here than I am with you." He lifted his chin in defiance.  
  
"Raven and I will cast the strongest protection spell we know. We'll even get Marius and Bakurian to help with boosting its power. You'll be safe, I promise."  
  
"Speaking of those two dolts..." Raven glanced around the hallway. "Where are they anyways?"  
  
Yami snapped his head up in surprise, quickly rising to his feet. He glanced around the wide hallway as well. They, along with their human-look- alikes, were no where in sight. That could mean only one thing...  
  
His suspicion was confirmed by a loud shout of "Tintila Kemen!" followed by the rumbling of the ground beneath him. That was Marius's element at work. His gaze locked onto Raven's, and they nodded in understanding before taking off at a full sprint down the remainder of the hallway. Yami glanced back briefly only to yell, "Yugi! You and Kaiba stay here with Belinos!"  
  
Yugi was about to run after them, as was Kaiba, but both were stopped by a large white wing. The dragon shook his head, as if to say, they were told to stay put. Kaiba became enraged at this. "Belinos, don't you get it?" he said angrily. "Raven will *die* if we don't help! Do you really want that to happen?"  
  
Belinos looked at the wolf-boy yelling at him, then down the corridor where Raven had disappeared into. Raven was not going to be too happy with him for not listening to her...But then again, an angry Raven was better then a dead one, so...With a low grumble Belinos took off down the hallway, Yugi and Kaiba right behind him.  
  
The three burst into the large room, the dragon letting out a huge roar as they did. Both Yami and Raven turned around in surprise at the same time. "Oh hell they are stubborn," Raven half-muttered to herself before sending yet another gruesome ghoul flying. This was not good.  
  
Yugi glanced wildly around the chaotic room. He saw the Air Guardian fighting against a very-familiar looking creature with six arms, each holding a deadly sword. The Earth Guardian was fighting a whole host of undead things. Yugi had thought that the creatures would be attacking his friends as well, since the Elders wanted them dead in the first place. But for some strange reason, his friends, as well and himself and Kaiba, were left alone. Only the Guardians, and now Belinos, were battling. Something seemed...off. But he didn't have much time to ponder what that might be, for his gaze next fell upon four old men in long, black robes. They were standing together at the very front of the room. And they were smiling too. Yugi's eyes widened as he recognized the one from his dream. The Elder caught his gaze, his smile widening even more. Raising one arm into the air, he called out in a loud voice, "STOP!"  
  
At once, the undead creatures stopped their fighting, their arms falling limp to their sides, their bodies going perfectly still. They retreated back to one side of the room. The four Guardians stopped fighting as well, breathing heavily and gazing around the room in wonder. They finally turned their gazes to the Elder who had called off the attack. Pegasus. Yami narrowed his eyes. He possessed the most power of the group, and was very, very dangerous.  
  
Pegasus was still smiling as he lowered his arms. "Well done, Guardians! All of your powers have certainly grown since they were first given to you, all those centuries ago. You've done remarkably well against my minions. Surprisingly so, actually." His emotionless eyes narrowed at them. "Pity you all have to die now."  
  
Bakurian glared defiantly up at him. "We're not the ones who'll be dying this night, you old fool!" He grinned. "You had prophesized yourselves that the four Guardians of the Watchtowers of Light will bring destruction to you and this world. Well, we've found all four humans, and now the prophesy will come true!"  
  
He was met with laughter from the four Elders. Marius leaned over towards Bakurian and muttered under his breath, "I think they've all lost it."  
  
Pegasus stopped his laughing abruptly. "You are the fool, Bakurian! There IS no such thing as the Guardians of the Watchtowers of the Light! It was all a lie to get you four to bring these humans to us. There is no prophesy of Arawn's destruction." He grinned wickedly.  
  
Yami growled low in his throat. "And just what do you want with Yugi and his friends?"  
  
The Elder looked at him. "Why, to replace you four as the new Guardians of the Watchtowers, of course."  
  
Crimson eyes widened. "That's not possible. They are too pure of heart to be Guardians of this dark world."  
  
"Oh really now? Well, they won't be once they witness the deaths of the ones they *love*. Love can be such a destructive thing, now can't it? It can turn even the purest of hearts into complete darkness, given the right stimulus of course."  
  
Raven, who had been silently observing all of this, now raised her head to glare at the Elders. "I knew something was not right when I first caught glance of Kaiba." Her eyes shifted briefly towards Kaiba, before returning to Pegasus. "He's not as "pure" as Yugi and his friends. I've suspected since then that this might be all a hoax. Looks like my suspicions were correct."  
  
Pegasus gave a shrug of his shoulders. "A little too late, now isn't it Raven? Next time, you should listen more closely to your instincts...then again, there won't BE a next time." He chuckled a bit. "Now, I have a surprise for you and Yami." He snapped his fingers sharply and two cloaked figures stepped out of the shadows behind him. They both came to stand in between the Elders and the Guardians.  
  
The first figure removed its cloak, revealing straggly blond hair and a wicked pair of fangs. The vampire smiled menacingly at Yami, and said in a low seductive voice, "Hello Yami my love. I'm back. Miss me much?" She grinned.  
  
Yugi felt his stomach drop at the sight the demented vampire, even though he was half-expecting this to happen. If his dream was correct, then she had come back even more powerful (and insane) than before. He desperately hoped that his dream would not become the reality...  
  
The second figure had removed its cloak as well. He had short, dark hair, and was holding a sword with a wolf skull hilt in one hand. He looked at Raven and smiled widely, his fangs showing. "Ah, Raven. It's been so long since we last met. You look as beautiful and alluring as always. I'm so sorry that things between us couldn't work out." His voice was dripping with fake regret.  
  
Raven's fingers tightened over the stake that she was holding as images of that horrible night flooded through her mind. Her other hand was also clenched tightly. She took a deep breath, then hissed in a low voice, "Angus. You're going to pay for murdering my family."  
  
He laughed in response. "You couldn't kill me then, and you certainly won't kill me now. I've grown so much more stronger than before."  
  
She growled. "We'll just see about that."  
  
Pegasus grinned. "Well isn't this a happy little reunion? Old lovers reuniting at last..." He glanced over at Kaiba.  
  
The tall boy looked at Raven, then at the vampire named Angus, then back at Raven. Those two, together? He felt his heart drop slightly at the thought.  
  
Pegasus continued speaking. "I guess they really are no longer lovers, seeing as how he killed her family to gain his immortality. And people wonder why it is so difficult for her to love and trust again." He grinned evilly. "Didn't I say love was destructive? It could do so much damage." He sighed. "But enough reminiscing. It's time now for the Guardians to die, and for them to pass on their duties to others. But first, I think I'd like to torture them a bit longer." He closed his eyes and started chanting in an unfamiliar language. The other three Elders joined him as well.  
  
Thick, purplish-black mists began to gather around the Elders as they continued their eerie chant. Raven's eyes widened when she recognized the spell. It was their favorite way of killing, called the Lumbarion. The black mists would surround the victim, literally choking them with darkness and death. It was a very painful and agonizing death. Hence why the Elders loved it so much. Raven's breath quickened as she desperately tried to figure out who their intended victim was. It couldn't be any of the four humans- they were wanted as the new Guardians. It couldn't be any of the four current Guardians either- that was what Isabella, Angus, and the minions were for. That left only one other person...or rather dragon.  
  
"BELINOS!!"  
  
But her warning was too late. The thick dark mists had already surrounded the unsuspecting dragon, quickly engulfing him. From within the mists Raven could hear, as well as feel, the dragon's pain as the evil choked the life out of him. "NO!" Raven screamed. "Belinos! Hang on!" She was about to dash into the dark mists, to try to fight it from within, when a hand was firmly clamped around her arm. She whirled around to face her cousin's concerned face.  
  
"Raven, you can't do that! It'll end up killing you too!"  
  
Tears were already streaming down her face. She never cried. Not since that day when her family was killed...She looked from the black swirls to Yami to the black swirls again. She could feel the dragon's heartbeat getting fainter and fainter...until she felt nothing at all.  
  
Promptly, the Elder stopped their chanting, and the dark mists gradually faded and cleared away. The once-mighty dragon lay in a crumbled heap, his eyes closed, his body still. Raven collapsed to the ground as fresh tears fell. She turned her teary gaze towards the Elders. "Bastards," she said, her voice raspy.  
  
Pegasus shrugged. "I never did like that menace anyways. Always sticking his nose in where it most certainly didn't belong." He narrowed his cold black eyes. "Well, looks like now he won't be meddling in anyone's affairs." He let out a trill of evil laughter. When he finally stopped, he was grinning again. "My minions, attack and kill those Guardians once and for all!"  
  
Yami glanced at the steadily approaching host of minions, then at his cousin. She was certainly in no condition to fight. And with that damn Isabella and Angus here as well...there must be a way out of this. Then a thought came to him, and he instantly shouted, "Megilor en' kalyd me'a!" An incredibly bright light flashed across the room, effectively stopping the minions in their tracks. The Elders too were blinded from the light- they were nearly cringing away from its brightness. Yami took this opportunity to escape, calling out to the others, "Hurry! Run! We don't have much time!" He grabbed a hold of Yugi's hand with one hand, and was trying to tug Raven to her feet with the other. But Raven would not budge. She just sat there, staring at the body of her fallen friend, her face still wet from her tears. "Raven, it's too late for Belinos now! We *will* avenge his death, but now we have to run! Raven!" Yami shouted at her in vain.  
  
Suddenly, the tall human boy came up to them and effortlessly scooped her up into his arms. She didn't protest, and Yami wasn't about to complain either. With a nod, they both took off after Bakurian and the others. Bakurian had already used his element to shatter one of the windows, giving them a way out. They all safely got out of Castle Istar and made a run back into the depths of the woods...  
  
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Okay, I'm gonna stop here. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Er...mostly talk though, I guess. Oops. Oh, and I'm sorry if any of you like Pegasus, but I needed an evil leader and was too lazy to come up with a name on my own. *shrugs* On another note, I hated having to kill Belinos, but as you'll see in the next chapter, it's an important part in the story.  
  
Translations:  
  
Tintila kemen!: Earthquake!  
  
Megilor en' kalyd me'a!: Swords of Illuminating Light! (Sorry, but I couldn't find the translation for 'revealing'. Close enough though.)  
  
I'll try to get out another chapter before classes start back up again on Monday. Try being the word. Thanks for reading and please review! 


	15. The Summoning of Slifer

As promised, another chapter before Monday. Yay me! :)  
  
Fanfiction reviewers:  
  
Soul Dreamer- Thanks for the comments and for reviewing!  
  
Anime-Blade- Thanks for the review!  
  
Ril- I'm glad you like this fic. Well, I'll try to put more Marius and Bakurian in, but they really are minor characters though (mainly cuz I don't know that much about them- their personality and such). But I'll give it a try this chapter. Thanks for the review!  
  
Yugi-obsessed- LOL, is this soon enough? Thanks for the review!  
  
Alina3- I know! I feel so bad. Oh trust me, they got it coming to them! LOL, Thanks for the review!  
  
Mediaminer reviewers:  
  
Rowan Girl- I'm glad you like it! Thanks for the review!  
  
Calupe- Of course I never get tired of you! Yeah, the Elders just like the mess with people's minds, I guess. Thanks for the review!  
  
Disclaimer- I don't own Yugioh.  
  
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Chapter 15: The Summoning of Slifer  
  
Once they were at a safe enough distance away from the Castle, deep into the forest, the group collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion, tired from running most of the way. Yami casted a spell to give the area some light. Kaiba gently set Raven down against a tree, then sat down next to her. No emotion showed on her face, her once-bright golden eyes now dulled. Wordlessly he placed an arm around her shoulders, hoping that his presence could offer the slightest bit of comfort. To his surprise, she immediately leaned her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes once more.  
  
After catching his breath, Marius remarked jokingly, "Well, that was fun, now wasn't it?" He earned glares from both Marik and Yami. He raised his eyebrows. "What? What did I say?" Some people needed to lighten up a bit.  
  
Bakurian sat against a tree, his human-look-alike right next to him. There was no WAY that he was going to be blamed for Belinos's death, which undoubtedly Raven would place the blame on him. It wasn't his fault the stupid dragon wanted to help. Raven had, after all, told him to go home. But no- he had just had to be so stubborn. Bah. He just wasn't getting any breaks this time around. Upon arriving in Arawn through that cursed portal, he and Marius had found that the humans had already managed to get themselves kidnapped. So of course, they had to go find them and rescue them. When they finally did, Bakurian was annoyed to find that the kidnapper was none other than Ryldor, a vampire with a deep vendetta against him, and one of his many, many enemies. He thought Ryldor had died in the fire that he had set upon his coven (Yami had unknowingly helped him with that), but apparently he somehow had survived. And now he was out for revenge, and had decided to use Bakura and Marik as part of it, giving them a new addition to their behinds. Personally, Bakurian thought Bakura looked much better *with* the tail- made him look less human, and therefore less annoying. But his opinion never counted.  
  
Anyways, it took a while, as well as a lot of effort on his part, to save Bakura and Marik, and make sure that Ryldor didn't survive this time around. After resting for the night, he and Marius agreed to head for Castle Istar, since that'd be the most likely place that Yami and Raven would be heading towards. And what do they find? Those two battling a host of minions from the Elders, and not having much luck either. So once again Bakurian has to save their behinds, but does he get any thanks? No, of course not. He just gets a couple of rude remarks as their gratitude. Pheh.  
  
Then comes Raven's idea to summon Slifer, sacrificing their powers to do so. Give up his power? For a bunch of humans? NEVER. Okay, sure, he may have a bit of concern for his look-alike (though he'd *never* admit that out loud), but he certainly wasn't about to give up his power to help him, especially when they could defeat the Elders without Slifer's help.  
  
Or at least that was what he thought before they had gone up to battle the Elders. The old fogies were more powerful than he expected, and damn their never-ending mass of minions! He definitely wasn't expecting those things to be there, at least not that many of them. And of course, as his rotten luck would have it, they had to be the can-never-be-killed variety too. Still, there had to be a way to defeat them without giving up their powers...  
  
As Bakurian continued his silent musings, Yami stared at his cousin. She still had not uttered a word since calling the Elders bastards (which he whole-heartedly agreed with). However, he was surprised to see that she was letting that Kaiba-fellow comfort her. That was certainly an unexpected first. Another unexpectedness was seeing Raven cry. She had always been the strong one, always in control of her emotions. That night, when their family was slaughtered by that betraying-piece-of-scum called Angus, Raven had cried. After wiping away the last of her tears, she vowed to avenge their family, as well as never to let her emotions get the best of her, never to let anyone else get close to her...never to love again. And she stuck to her vows, with the exception of the first. Sure, she had him, and she had friends like Eiru and Belinos, but love was certainly out of the question for Raven. Yami had already noticed her Water pendent hanging around Kaiba's neck. He wondered how in the worlds Kaiba had managed to get through her immense shields.  
  
A gentle poke on his arm brought Yami out of his thoughts. He glanced over to his side, where Yugi was sitting next to him. "Is she gonna be alright?" he asked in a quiet voice.  
  
"I don't know, Yugi," Yami answered just as quietly. "She and Belinos were extremely close. She had watched him grow up from a tiny hatchling. His death, along with the apparent plan of the Elders, must be very taxing on her."  
  
To this, Raven finally opened her eyes and lifted her head off of Kaiba's shoulder. "They've been manipulating us the whole time, Yami," she said in soft voice. She gave a short laugh. "I'm beginning to wonder if we've been manipulated from the very beginning."  
  
Yami eyed his cousin carefully. "What do you mean?"  
  
"Think about it. The Elders are always boasting that they have a plan for everything, that they are in complete and total control. What if everything that we've done, that we've been through has all been a part of some master plan of theirs?" Her gaze darkened. "Someone must have contacted Angus, told him about our world, and given him the opportunity to obtain immortality. What if that someone was ...Pegasus?"  
  
Yami thought about her words. It was certainly all very plausible. Pegasus gets Angus to betray Raven and kill their family, the loss causing both of their hearts to darken enough to be able to control the elements (The Elders only wanted the elements to be controlled by those with a dark heart.) So they both became Guardians, along with Bakurian and Marius, who were already insane and dark enough on their own. Then, the Elders make up the whole Illuminites-will-destroy-Arawn-one-day thing, which sets up the meeting between the Guardians and Yugi and his friends. Once feelings start to develop, the Elders then ship them back to Arawn, knowing that they must go to the Castle and meet them in order to have any chance of escaping back to Yugi's world. Once at the Castle, the Elders would have the Guardians killed, the grief presumably would darken the hearts of Yugi, Kaiba, Bakura, and Marik, which would allow for them to become the next Guardians of the Watchtowers. And the dark magick that's been radiating from the Castle? It's not to call all the creatures of Arawn to the Castle for war- it's the preparation of the induction ceremony for the "new" Guardians. It all made sense now.  
  
Yami looked at Raven. "You're right. Perhaps we have been manipulated from the beginning."  
  
She nodded, gently removing Kaiba's arm from around her shoulders and rising to her feet. Kaiba immediately stood up as well, looking at her with concerned eyes. He did not like the dark, cold gaze in her eyes. "And I for one am tired of being manipulated. They're the ones who ordered the deaths of our family, and they killed Belinos as well. They have much to answer for." She moved away towards a clear space, withdrew her dagger from her belt, and began drawing a large circle in the dirt.  
  
Yami grew concerned at her actions, and quickly got to his feet, Yugi following him. "Raven, what are you doing?"  
  
"I'm doing what we should have done before we ever stepped foot into Castle Istar. I'm going to summon Slifer."  
  
This caught the attention of both Bakurian and Marius. "Raven," Bakurian growled out, "we've had this discussion before. We will *not* sacrifice our powers to summon the god monster. We absolutely refuse to."  
  
"If you hadn't been so damn selfish about your stupid powers, then Belinos might still be alive this minute," Raven snapped acidly. She took a deep breath to calm herself. "Besides, there's more than one way to sacrifice to a god." The circle being nearly complete, she stepped inside of it, bending down to close it off. However, she paused when she noticed Yami coming up to her. She turned her head upwards, gazing at him with dark eyes.  
  
Yami knelt down beside his cousin, placing his hand over the one that held the dagger, preventing her from closing the circle. "Raven," he began, keeping his voice low so that Yugi and Kaiba wouldn't be able to hear him, "tell me you're not doing what I think you are going to do?"  
  
"I am, Yami," Raven replied, keeping her voice equally low. "It's the only way."  
  
"But to sacrifice yourself to summon Slifer? That's..." Yami paused to gather his thoughts. "Is that really necessary?"  
  
Raven closed her eyes briefly, then opened them and looked at Yami determinedly. "I refuse to let anyone else that I care about die. And I certainly won't allow the Elders to ruin the lives of Yugi and his friends. This time, they won't manipulate us to get their way."  
  
The Fire Guardian sighed, thinking. "Well, if that's the case, then I'm performing the spell with you."  
  
"No. I need you to stay and make sure that Yugi and Kaiba get home safely." She smiled slightly. "Can't depend on those two other dolts to do it," she said, slightly inclining her head towards Bakurian and Marius.  
  
Meanwhile, Bakura was talking with Bakurian. "What's Raven doing? Why the circle on the ground?"  
  
"She's getting ready to perform a spell." When Bakura gave him a confused stare, Bakurian rolled his eyes in annoyance. "To do a spell, you always draw a circle and create the magick within it. Otherwise, the magick summoned could go off elsewhere and cause unintended side affects. Besides, if you want your spell to work, it's best to concentrate it in one area. A circle does that."  
  
"Oh," Bakura said softly, then paused. "How is she going to summon Slifer without you and Marius's powers?"  
  
"Don't know. But I'm gonna go find out." He had a feeling that it wasn't anything good. He motioned to Marius, who got up and followed him. When they reached the other two Guardians, Bakurian cleared his throat roughly, crossing his arms across his chest. "And just what are you two up to?"  
  
Yami looked up at him. "Raven's planning on sacrificing herself to summon Slifer. Since *you* two are refusing to sacrifice your powers to stop the Elders," he added pointedly. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to keep his voice low, so everyone had heard him.  
  
Kaiba's heart nearly stopped when he heard Yami's words. He quickly strode over to where the four Guardians were gathered. "What do you mean, you're going to sacrifice yourself?" he demanded of Raven.  
  
She looked at him coolly, but Kaiba could see a hint of sadness in her eyes. "I made a vow to get you safely home, Seto. And I intend on keeping it."  
  
"But you don't need to give up your life!" Yugi cried out suddenly, running up towards them. He looked at Marius and Bakurian. "If you two would just agree to give up your powers, then we could *all* make it out of here safely." He looked at them with pleading eyes.  
  
Bakurian snorted in response, turning his head away from Yugi. Only to find himself looking into the exact same look from Bakura. Likewise, Marius was on the receiving end of the look from Marik. Great, once again, they were being ganged up on. He and Raven may have had their differences, but still...they had been through a lot together. And, as much as he hated to admit it, she *had* always been loyal to him, looked out for him. With a very loud grunt, he nodded his head. Marius did likewise, his thoughts much the same as Bakurian's. They were both met by immediate hugs of their human- look-alikes. Bakurian pushed Bakura away with a frown. How he hated showing all that mushy emotion!  
  
Yami nodded in relief, then turned towards Yugi. "Yugi, you and your friends get by that tree over there. If our offerings are accepted, and the god creature is summoned, I don't want you getting in his way. They can be rather unpredictable."  
  
Yugi nodded his understanding, then reached up to give Yami a hug. "Be careful," he whispered into his ear.  
  
"I will," Yami said, returning the embrace tightly. Gods, let this work. It was their last hope...  
  
Raven had stepped out of the still-incomplete circle, and was now standing next to Kaiba. She smiled slightly. "Everything will be fine. It's almost over now."  
  
"And when it is? What will you do then?"  
  
She considered his question thoughtfully. "I don't know, actually. We'll probably be hunted by those still loyal to the Elders, so can't stay in Arawn. I don't think I want to anyways. Maybe I'll go visit the other worlds. It's been a while since I've visited the Dragon lands, where..."she paused suddenly. "Where Belinos is from," she finished quietly. She sighed softly. "Maybe I won't be going there then."  
  
Kaiba took a deep breath. "Why not come back to my home? I mean, to my world," he added hastily. "I'm sure your cousin will want to stay around Yugi."  
  
Raven smiled. "Perhaps that is not a bad idea. Thank you for the invitation, Seto."  
  
He smiled in return.  
  
Yami came up to them. "Everyone ready?"  
  
His cousin nodded, and with one last smile at Kaiba, turned and stepped into the circle. Yami, Bakurian, and Marius followed, then she bent and completed the circle. Yugi and the other walked over to a safe distance away from the circle, standing near some trees. They waited, their hearts starting to pound in their chests.  
  
The four Guardians each got into their proper places, Bakurian in the Eastern corner, Yami in the Southern, Raven in the Western, and finally Marius in the Northern. They each closed their eyes and raised their arms, focusing their magick in the center of the circle. With a deep breath, Bakurian began the spell. "Amin yel arta i' Tirion en' i' Rhun, ent yala i' Vilya. Tul nae amin!" White crystals began to gather in the center of the circle.  
  
Yami continued the spell. "Amin yel arta i' Tirion en' i' Har, ent yala i' Naurmen.," he said in a clear, steady voice. "Tul nae amin!" Red crystals joined the white ones in the center.  
  
"Amin yel arta i' Tirion en' i' Numen, ent yala i' Alus," Raven called out. "Tul nae amin!" Blue crystals gathered in the center, intermingling with the white and red ones.  
  
"Amin yel arta i' Tirion en' i' For, ent yala i' Kemen. Tul nae amin!" Marius's brown crystals joined the others gathered in the center.  
  
As the crystals mixed and the elements began to combine their powers, Raven took a deep breath. Here goes everything... "As the Guardians of the powerful Watchtowers, we offer these elements as a sacrifice to you, Slifer, great dragon-god of the skies. Hear our plea! We bid you to accept our offerings, and aid us in our time of need. Hear us and come!"  
  
As soon as the last word was out of Raven's mouth, the crystals gathered in the center glowed immensely, and shot up towards the sky as one great force of power. The shot shattered the thickness of the trees above them, and continued high into the sky, the brilliant colors swirling around and around, forming a tunnel of sorts. Dark ominous clouds began to form around this tunnel of elements, and lightning cracked and boomed throughout the sky. Something could be seen forming within the tunnel...  
  
Suddenly, a tremendous roar rang out throughout the lands, causing even the trees to tremble in fear. Their offerings had been accepted. Slifer had arrived!  
  
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Heh heh, I'm evil. I'm gonna end it here. :D A reviewer requested that I put more of Marius and Bakurian's thoughts in, so that's what I was trying to do in this chapter. *shrugs* Hope I did okay. I'm really too sure on how they would think and such.  
  
Translations: (Ok, these are extremely roughly translated, and more than likely the grammar is wrong.)  
  
Amin yel arta i' Tirion en' i' Rhun, ent yala i' Vilya. Tul nae amin!- I call on the Watchtower of the East, and summon the (element of) Air. Come to me!  
  
Amin yel arta i' Tirion en' i' Har, ent yala i' Naurmen. Tul nae amin!- I call on the Watchtower of the South, and summon the (element of) Fire. Come to me!  
  
Amin yel arta i' Tirion en' i' Numen, ent yala i' Alus. Tul nae amin!- I call on the Watchtower of the West, and summon the (element of ) Water. Come to me!  
  
Amin yel arta i' Tirion en' i' For, ent yala i' Kemen. Tul nae amin!- I call on the Watchtower of the North, and summon the (element of) Earth. Come to me!  
  
Side note, sorry, but I got lazy and didn't feel like translating the last part of the spell. You get the picture anyways, right?  
  
Well, seeing as how stupid classes start up again tomorrow, not sure when I'll be able to update. For now, you people can just imagine how the Elders will fair against Slifer. *grins* Enjoy! Thanks for reading and please review! 


	16. The Battle Begins

Finals are over! Yay!! Now that summer's here, I can finish up this story. Sorry for the wait!  
  
Grrr...sorry, but I just noticed that the little marks used for wolf talk didn't show up! Must make the story a bit confusing. So I'm gonna try re- uploading the chapter using different quote marks. Grrr...this is so annoying! Sorry about the confusion.  
  
Fanfiction reviewers:  
  
Tenshi208: Thanks for the review!  
  
Yugi-obsessed: Heh heh, yups. :) Thanks for the review!  
  
Ril: You're welcome. I hope it was ok. Thanks for the review!  
  
Tarika Rania: Thanks for the review!  
  
Alina3: Heh heh, I know! :) Thanks for the nice comments and the review!  
  
Kitty Neko: Okey dokes, here ya go! Thanks for the review!  
  
Mediaminer reviewers:  
  
Rowan Girl: Thanks for the review!  
  
Med: LOL, I know I'm evil. :) Thanks for the comments and the review!  
  
Disclaimer: Same as always. Don't own Yugioh.  
  
'Blah': wolves or Slifer speaking through their minds  
  
"Blah" : normal speech  
  
Chapter 16: The Battle Begins  
  
Inside the throne room of Castle Istar, Pegasus, Isabella, Angus and the other Elders were planning the imminent return of the Guardians and the soon-to-be-new Guardians. Suddenly, a terrific roar was heard, causing the grounds and walls of the old castle to shudder. Pegasus's dark black eyes widened in surprise, and he rushed towards the broken window through which the Guardians had made their escape. He looked out towards the dark forest, his mouth gaping at the glowing tunnel that had shot out from within its depths. And at the creature that had formed inside of it, ready to break out at any second. Pegasus felt himself shudder at the sheer power he felt radiating from this being. It could not be who he thought it was. It just couldn't...  
  
Back within the forest, four pairs of eyes watched with wonder and amazement as the bright tunnel before them continued to sizzle and crackle with magickal energies. Within it, they could see the outline of something unbelievably long and large, writhing and turning as it prepared to break out of the tunnel and complete the summoning. A second tremendous roar was heard, this one shattering the glowing tunnel, blanketing the surrounding area with bright white light. The four humans shielded their eyes from the blast, turning away slightly. A moment later, the brightness died down and Yugi took a deep breath to calm his pounding heart. He lowered his hand, blinking his eyes several times to regain their focus. When they finally did, he let out a loud gasp, his hand coming back up to clamp over his mouth. Before him, was an enormously large red snake-like being, its long body, adorned with scales much like those of a dragon, snaking around the trees. It had claws the size of a mini-van. But what amazed Yugi the most was its massive head, for this creature had not one but two mouths. The lower mouth had two rather sharp-looking fangs protruding upwards from its lower jaw; the second, smaller mouth was directly on top of the first. Yugi could only stand there and stare.  
  
Currently, the beast had its head low to the ground, so that it may speak with those who summoned it. Annoyance flashed through its glowering yellow eyes, its second mouth opening slightly to let out a breath of magick, transforming those before it into their true form. Satisfied, the dragon- snake creature at last spoke, its voice hollow and ancient, 'Why have you summoned me, Guardians of the Watchtowers?'  
  
Raven stepped forward, her head lowered in respect, as were the others'. 'We need your help, Great One, to defeat those who have wronged us.'  
  
'No.'  
  
Raven, as well as the other Guardians, snapped their heads up in surprise. She looked at the god-creature questioningly.  
  
'There is another reason.'  
  
The four wolves looked at one another with uncertainty. What did it mean, there was another reason? Suddenly, Yami's crimson eyes lit up in realization. He stepped up next to his cousin. 'We have summoned you, Ancient One, to help us save those whom we love from a terrible fate.'  
  
A low rumbling was heard deep within Slifer's throat that sounded much like a chuckle. 'Ah yes. Love. It is a surprise to find such a feeling in hearts overrun by darkness. Particularly in one whose heart was once betrayed by love.' Beady yellow eyes turned towards Raven. 'How can you be certain that you will not be betrayed again?'  
  
Raven glanced over to where the four humans were still standing, golden eyes catching deep cerulean ones. For a moment their eyes stayed locked, till she finally nodded her head in understanding. She turned back towards the god-creature. 'I just am. He would never hurt me.'  
  
Slifer chuckled again. 'Such confidence in your voice. It amuses me so that you would place such trust in a human. Is this one really so different from the rest of his species, a species that you have fiercely despised over the past several centuries?'  
  
Thoughts flashed back to that fateful night at the cemetery, when Yugi and his friends had first discovered who they really were. Yami's words from that night drifted back to Raven: All humans are not the same... She hadn't believed him at first, but then the human boy had offered his life in order to save Yami's. Such a thing had never occurred before, and was quite shocking to her. Then she met Seto and things really began to change for her. Why had she let him comfort her after the death of her friend? She had always been the strong, independent one of the Guardians, never wanting to rely on another's help. Her cousin was the only one whom she would actually trust with anything. But perhaps, Raven reflected, over 200 centuries worth of protecting the Watchtowers as well as watching out for the other Guardians was starting to take its toll on her, not so much physically but emotionally. She was tired of always being so strong, and the loss of Belinos had finally pushed her to her limits. Luckily for her though, Seto was there when she needed somebody to lean on. Raven let out a silent sigh. She hated to admit it, but she had been wrong all these centuries. All humans were not the same, and her hatred for them should only have been for the one who had betrayed her. Taking another small breath, she said softly, 'All humans are not the same. It's just taken me a few centuries to figure it out.'  
  
The god-creature considered her words. 'Very well then. Your answers are satisfactory enough. I will help you. It will be curious to see the outcome of this interesting turn of events.'  
  
Raven wasn't quite sure what "outcome" it meant, but decided she would figure it out later. She bowed her head low towards the god-creature, the others following her action. 'Thank you, Great One. We most appreciate your aid.'  
  
A low growl came from Slifer's throat. 'I know that the Elders used the Lumbarion to murder a dragon. That in itself justifies my wrath...' With another louder growl, the creature leapt through the trees and into the sky with a great swoosh of its wings, and took off at a blinding speed towards Castle Istar.  
  
Raven watched the dragon-god take off, then turned towards the others. 'Let's go. Wouldn't want to miss all the fun, now would we?'  
  
'Wait, Raven.' Yami stopped her. 'Is it safe for Yugi and his friends to go with us?'  
  
'Do you think it's safer for them out here, by themselves, in the middle of a forest filled with the Elders' creatures?'  
  
Yami considered this for a second. 'Point taken.'  
  
'Good. Then let's go.'  
  
The four wolves and four humans once again took off towards the dark castle. They stopped shortly when they reached the Castle. Already, Slifer had left its mark: the dark gates had been torn down, and bodies of those dead-of-the-undead creature things littered the grounds. The Elders must have sensed Slifer's presence and tried to strengthen the defenses of the castle. But apparently, the magick of the Elders was no match for the sheer might of the god-creature.  
  
Another tremendous roar of the dragon-snake creature was heard, and immediately after another part of the throne room's wall was blasted , sending bits of stone and wood flying everywhere.  
  
Yugi's heart was pounding madly in his chest as the group ran through the castle's dark corridor and towards the throne room. Running down the corridor reminded him of his dream, where he had watched the Guardians fall and the Elders triumph. However, things were different now. The dragon- snake creature had certainly not been a part of his horrific dream, and its presence here now created such a high anticipation that maybe things would work out alright after all. That perhaps his dream was only just that: a dream.  
  
Yami, however, was not as optimistic as Yugi was. He knew that everything and anything comes with a heavy price. Though they had already sacrificed their elemental powers (and thus their positions as Guardians), he felt, no he knew that more would be required to get Yugi and his friends safely back to their own world. In their original human form too, minus the tails and wolf ears. He just hoped that the price would not be more than they could give.  
  
At last, the group reached the entrance to the throne room. Bakurian and Marius threw open its doors, their eyes lighting up with glee at the destruction before them: more dead-of-the-undead things were strewn about the room, including one particularly familiar creature with six arms. Except that the creature was rather missing a few of those arms. Bakurian laughed out loud. That proved what he had thought all along: that the stupid human's dream was nothing to be concerned with. Pish. People really should listen to him more often.  
  
The Air Guardian's laughter caught the attention of two vampires, one recently brought back from the dead, hiding out in the far corner of the room, trying to avoid the god-creature's fury. Both looked towards the room's entrance at the same time, and both let out low growls, their lips curling up into hateful sneers, fangs showing clearly. Isabella narrowed her eyes at the sight of the human boy standing next to HER Yami. She knew what the Guardians must have done in order to summon Slifer, and it intensified her hate for the human boy. Yami would never have given up his powers for her. With an angry, frustrated cry, the demented vampire took off towards the entrance, intent on taking care of once and for all that pesky human. She was going to prove to Yami that he should have chosen her.  
  
Angus, the vampire who had betrayed Raven to gain his immortality, also was not happy at what he saw at the room's entrance. After the Elders had disposed of that bothersome dragon, he had watched as the tall blue- eyed human boy had scooped up the motionless Raven into his arms and took off with her. Watched and grew completely jealous. Even though he had only used Raven to gain his immortality, still, he did have feelings for the shapeshifter (though he doubted she would ever believe that). He had hoped that one day she would understand, and now that he was immortal as she was, they could spend the rest of eternity together. But now this human would ruin everything. He didn't quite know the exact relationship between them, but he sensed that it was not to his liking in any way. He would not allow this human to get in the way. With another low growl, he too started off towards the entrance.  
  
Unfortunately, Bakurian's laugh had not only attracted the attention of the two vampires, but also of Pegasus as well. Enraged at the Guardians having the nerve to summon Slifer and go against him, he threw out an arm towards them, shouting, "My minions! Go and attack the Guardians AND their pathetic little humans! DESTROY THEM ALL!!"  
  
A bunch of gruesome-looking things began heading their way, but before Yami could figure out what to do about them (seeing as how they no longer had their elemental powers), a shrill screech drew his attention elsewhere. He turned, growling when he saw that demented vampire Isabella hurtling herself towards Yugi, her mouth open and her fangs ready. He reacted quickly, springing forth and knocking her off her path and onto the ground with a loud thud. He jumped off of her, placing himself between her and the stunned Yugi, baring his own teeth in a menacing growl.  
  
Meanwhile, Raven had spotted Angus making his way towards them as well. Strangely though, he wasn't looking at her but rather at something behind her. She turned, and realized with a start that it was Seto he was glaring at. Even as a human, Angus would become quickly jealous at any guy who even looked at her. As a vampire, she guessed that his jealousy would be ten times worse now. Raven easily stepped in between the human and jealous vampire, narrowing her golden eyes as she did so. 'Back off, Angus!' she growled angrily. 'I won't let you harm any more whom I love.'  
  
Angus narrowed his eyes as well. "So, Raven, you've found somebody else have you? Not afraid that he'll betray you as I once did?"  
  
Raven smirked, her eyes glinting with smugness. 'No. Because he is better than you could ever hope to be, in all your pitiful. Immortal. Life.' She said the last three words purposefully slow, to let them fully sink into Angus's mind. She easily held her glare with that of Angus's.  
  
An angry cry came from Angus as he hurled himself towards the wolf, grabbing her by the neck and hurling her into the nearest pillar with a force that surprised Raven. Kaiba yelled her name as he rushed toward her, only to be blocked by the dark-haired vampire. For a moment their eyes locked in a heated stare, and a grin slowly spread on Angus's lips. "I'm going to enjoy draining every last drop of your blood..." he whispered. "Then we'll see who the "better" one is." He unsheathed his wolf-headed sword as he started to advance towards Kaiba slowly.  
  
Marius and Bakurian were in a bit of a bind. They no longer had their elemental powers to defend with. Marik and Bakura had grabbed swords, but their knowledge of how to use them was rather minimal. The four stood in a back-to-back circle, the minions circling around them. Things did not look so good for them.  
  
Suddenly, a stream of dark magick blasted through the minions, sending them flying. Another stream of lighter-colored magick followed, sending more flying. Stunned, the four looked in the direction of the blasts, and saw two figures floating in the one of the holes that Slifer had made in the wall. Both held magician's staffs, one wearing a long dark purple robe, the other in a much brighter pink and blue outfit. Marius recognized them immediately: Myrrddin and Eiru, good friends of Yami and Raven. He never really liked them much, but at the moment couldn't be happier at seeing them.  
  
Yami too saw the arrival of the two siblings, and mentally thanked them for their help. He turned his attention back the demented vampire before him. So, exactly how was he supposed to kill something that had been brought back from the dead by the magick of the Elders'? His speed and strength as a wolf will certainly help in the fight, but when it came down to the actual killing part, well...that would be difficult. However, before Yami could think further on the situation, another shriek came from Isabella as she tried to lunge around Yami and straight at Yugi. Yami blocked her path just in time, watching her closely with angry blood-red eyes.  
  
Isabella let out a maddening laugh. "Yami, Yami, Yami. You may have killed me once, but this time it will not happen. I can't be killed by a simple stake this time. And you don't even have your Fire powers any more. Face it. You can't save your little human this time." She grinned an evil grin, showing off her fangs.  
  
The wolf growled low. 'If you want Yugi, then you'll have to get through me first.'  
  
The vampire continued smiling. "As you wish. But rest assured, I won't kill you. I want you alive when I drain your precious human's blood." She picked up a sword that was lying next to her on the ground, and with a shriek dove straight at Yami with it. Yami narrowly avoided the attack, turning quickly and sinking his teeth into the wrist that held the sword. He had caught the vampire in surprise, who shrieked in pain and immediately dropped the sword.  
  
The taste in his mouth was excruciatingly bitter, by far the worst that he's ever tasted. A vampire-brought-back-from-the-dead's tasted absolutely horrible! But still he held on tight, twisting his head this way and that in an effort to cause some pain and hopefully slow her down. However, Isabella slammed her other fist into the side of his head a few times, forcing him to immediately let her go. The vampire backed off a few steps, holding her injured wrist and glaring with widened eyes. "Just for that, I'll make Yugi suffer even more!" she hissed painfully.  
  
'Go ahead and try' Yami replied evenly, preparing for her next attack.  
  
Meanwhile, Slifer had the four Elders nearly cornered. They were tiring quite fast, whereas every passing second made him stronger. He was thoroughly enjoying himself. He hadn't had this much fun in ages.  
  
Angus was now only a few feet away from the tall human boy. He looked him up and down, trying to figure out why in the worlds Raven would have any interest in him. "Nice ears and tail," he commented. "Perhaps I'll chop those off first." He took a few lazy passes with his sword for emphasis. Surprisingly though, there was no fear in the human's eyes. Which made Angus even angrier.  
  
Kaiba's mind was working furiously to figure out a solution to this dilemma. Sure, he could run a multi-billion dollar corporation successfully, even with having to deal occasionally with those psycho executives of his. But to go up against a mad vampire with a sword, who obviously didn't like him very much, even though they had never even met before- that was...a first, to say the least. But he wasn't stupid- he knew exactly why Angus hated him so. And it wasn't like the feelings weren't returned. He would love to wring the bastard's neck out for hurting Raven like he did. Apparently, he was about to get his chance too. Even though he had no idea what he was doing, the businessman in him knew better than to show it. He stood his ground, glaring daggers at the vampire coming slowly towards him. He needed to check on Raven as well, who had yet to stir after being thrown against the pillar.  
  
The dark-haired vampire, annoyed at not being able to intimidate the human, raised his sword to attack. It looked like the human was planning on taking him on. Fine by him. All the more pleasurable when he easily defeats him. However, before he could take his first swing, a powerful force slammed into him from behind, knocking him off-balance, the sword flying out of his hand. He turned, to see a rather angry wolf with glowering golden eyes. He narrowed his eyes at her. "Always the stubborn one, Raven. Never knowing when to just quit."  
  
The impact of crashing into the pillar had knocked the breath out of her, as well as creating a rather large bruise on her side. But she'll worry about the bruising later. She had a promise to keep. 'I never quit. It's time we settled this once and for all.'   
  
Ooo, nasty place to stop, but uh, I think the chapter's long enough. I'll try to update within the week. Thanks for reading and please review! I know I'm terribly slow! Sorry! ;) 


	17. Home At Last

I know I said I would try to update within the week, but my Internet's been down for the past week or so. Sorry about that. rolls eyes Stupid Internet...  
  
Fanfiction reviewers:  
  
Soul Dreamer: LOL, thanks!  
  
Ril: Thanks, you got it!  
  
Shero: Thanks for the review! Here ya go!  
  
Yugi-obsessed: Thanks! Soon enough? (Err...probably not...) ;)  
  
Alina3: LOL, thanks for the review! Uhh...evil cat? YIPES ;)  
  
Mediaminer reviewers:  
  
Med: Thanks for the comments. Don't worry- I'll finish this story (eventually). ;)  
  
Rowan girl: Thanks for the review!  
  
Disclaimer: I'm soooo tired of this thing. Aren't you? Anyways, I don't own Yugioh.  
  
Ok, for some reason, Fanfiction wouldn't upload the marks for the wolf speech last chapter, so I'm using different marks this time.  
  
'Blah': wolf or Slifer talking  
  
"Blah": normal talking  
  
Chapter 17: Home At Last  
  
The throne room of Castle Istar was absolutely chaotic. In one corner, there was the great god-creature cornering the four Elders, seemingly enjoying itself as the magicks of the Elders were draining fast. In the center of the room, two Spellcaster siblings protected two wolves and two humans with their magickal staffs from hordes of undead things. To one side of the entrance, a yellow-eyed wolf prepared to do battle against a dark-haired vampire. The other side of the entrance showed a red-eyed wolf glaring at an insanely jealous blond vampire. It was unclear which side had the upper advantage: the wolves and their allies or the Elders and theirs.  
  
But things were about to change.  
  
"Alright, Raven," Angus said through clenched teeth. "I had hoped we could have worked out our differences, but if you are so determined to end this now, then so be it." He narrowed his eyes at her angrily.  
  
As Angus talked, Kaiba walked over and quietly picked up the wolf- headed sword from the ground, gripping it with both hands. Good thing Mokuba had such a fascination with vampires. He had countless books about them, and was always sharing any new information that he had found about them. One thing that Kaiba remembered most at the moment was how they were said to be killed: stake in the heart (he had witnessed that first-hand when Yami had staked that crazy blonde vampire), fire, sunlight, or beheading. Seeing as how the first three were not an option, he planned on going for number four.  
  
Behind Angus, Raven saw Kaiba pick up the sword. Their eyes locked briefly, and she gave a slight nod of understanding. She turned her gaze back to Angus. 'I hope you've enjoyed your wretched immortal life, Angus. Because it's about to end very shortly.'  
  
The dark-haired vampire laughed. "I won't be the one dying tonight. You'll never be able to kill me!"  
  
'Whoever said I was going to kill you?'  
  
Angus's eyes widened at this, not understanding what she could possibly mean by that. He was about to reply, when suddenly he felt a blade sink deep into his back. He locked down in shock at the blade now protruding from his chest, dripping with his blood. It was yanked out, and he turned around in surprise, his mouth hanging open slightly. His eyes widened even more when he saw that it was that tall human boy, holding his sword, with a smirk on his face.  
  
"You really should take care of your things better," Kaiba said. Blue eyes narrowed as he tightened his grip on the sword. "This is for hurting Raven..." he muttered under his breath. With that, he whipped the sword above his head once, then sliced downward and through the vampire's neck. The head went flying off before the entire body exploded into dust. Kaiba dropped his sword with a clatter, his eyes wide and his breath coming fast at seeing the vampire's body explode. He wasn't quite expecting that to happen.  
  
Raven came up to him, looking at the empty place where Angus once stood. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. She opened her eyes and looked up, nearly straining her neck to reach the eyes of her seemingly knight in shining armor (well, minus the armor part). 'Thank you, Seto,' she said softly. 'My family can finally rest in peace, and I can finally move on. Thank you.'  
  
Kaiba knelt down so his face was level with hers. He cracked one of his rare, genuine smiles. "It was my pleasure."  
  
The wolf leaned in and nuzzled her face against his neck. In response, he wrapped his arms around her neck, leaning his head against hers. For the first time in a long while, he actually felt kinda...happy. Now, all that was left was to return home.  
  
Meanwhile, Yugi watched nervously as wolf and vampire stared furiously at one another. He had no idea how Yami would defeat the insane vampire this time. She couldn't be killed by the stake, and Yami no longer had his Fire powers. Suddenly, something clicked in Yugi's mind. He remembered how last time they were in the throne room, Yami had called out something in the language of their magick, and a blinding white light had come and aided in their escape. But that wasn't a part of Yami's elemental powers. So maybe...  
  
"Yami!" Yugi called out in an excited voice. The wolf kept his gaze on the vampire, but one ear pricked towards Yugi's direction in response, letting him know he had his attention. "Yami! I know you don't have your Fire powers any more. But you have other magick besides those given to you as a Guardian! Like that blinding light you used to help us escape the last time."  
  
Red eyes widened in realization. Yugi was right! Long ago, even before they were Guardians, Raven had taught him some of the spells that she knew. And when they had summoned Slifer, they had only sacrificed their elemental powers. Any other magick they still retained. Yami smiled inwardly. He always knew this boy was smart. He looked at the vampire with a smirk in his eyes.  
  
Isabella saw the smirk and that angered her even more. "No magick can harm me! I'm protected by the powerful magick of the Elders!"  
  
Yami cocked his head to one side a bit. 'Oh really? True, your body may be protected, but your mind is most certainly not. And a mind is a terrible thing to lose...'  
  
The vampire faltered a bit. "What-what do you mean my mind?"  
  
'Let me explain. The Elders' magick only protects your body from being harmed by other magick. However, your mind is left unprotected. And, unfortunately for you, your mind is rather unstable, seeing as how insane you are and all. So, I think I'll just intensify that unstableness.' He narrowed his eyes. 'I'm going to destroy you from the inside out.'  
  
"You-you're bluffing! You don't have the kind of power!"  
  
Yami didn't bother to answer, but closed his eyes and summoned his magick, focusing its power on the demented vampire. He opened his eyes and glared at her. 'Pelekta yassen i'handele!!' he shouted with all his might.  
  
An unholy shriek came from Isabella as she suddenly felt immense pain in her head. She shrieked again as she clutched her head, shaking her head back and forth forcefully, trying to rid herself of the pain. But her actions only intensified it.  
  
Yami backed Yugi up against the wall, away from the writhing and shrieking vampire. "What's happening to her?" Yugi asked softly.  
  
'Her mind is collapsing on itself, unable to endure the strain of her madness.'  
  
Isabella let out one final shriek, then her body went still and she collapsed onto the ground. Yami went tentatively up to her, Yugi close behind. Her mouth and eyes were frozen open. Yami waved a paw in front of her eyes, but saw no movement. He sighed. 'I don't think she'll be coming back again. I've destroyed her mind. Without it, there's not much left.'  
  
Even though she had spelled him with the wolf ears and tail, as well as trying to kill him on several occasions, Yugi couldn't help feel just a tad bit sorry for her. She was, after all, just in love (though insanely so) with someone she couldn't have. She did everything out of love. He couldn't really blame her for that, now could he?  
  
Myrrddin and Eiru had managed to blast away the last of the dead-of-the- undead things. With the magicks of the Elders running low, thanks to Slifer, the things' power drastically decreased as well. Without the Elders' magick, they could not survive.  
  
Yami and Yugi, as well as Raven and Kaiba, joined the others in the center of the room. 'Everyone all in one piece?' Raven questioned.  
  
They all nodded in reply.  
  
'I'm glad.' She looked at the two Spellcaster siblings. 'Thank you both, for your help. How did you know to come?'  
  
"We saw the beam of light when Slifer was summoned," Myrrddin answered. "So we figured there was great trouble, and came as quickly as possible."  
  
Eiru glanced at Yugi and Kaiba, and giggled. "The little boy looks so adorable with those ears and tail!" Yugi blushed a bit, while everyone else was giving her an incredulous look. She quickly regained her composure. "Can the spell be reversed?"  
  
Raven nodded. 'We're going to make the Elders reverse it. Thank you again for your help, but you better go home now. I don't want the Elders taking out any of their anger on you.'  
  
"What will you do, when all of this is over?"  
  
'We're going to live in Yugi's world,' Yami answered. "It's rather...fascinating, actually.'  
  
Myrrddin nodded thoughtfully. "Then perhaps, when things have settled down, we will visit. It's been a long time since we visited the human world."  
  
'We'd like that very much.'  
  
The friends hugged good-bye, Eiru giving Yugi a little peck on the cheek, which made him turn even redder. Then the two siblings were off.  
  
Once they were gone, Raven turned her attention towards the far corner of the room, where the great god-creature had seemingly imprisoned the four Elders. The Elders' robed were tattered and torn, their hair messy and unkempt. Their shoulders drooped with defeat, their breathing heavy. But they were so stubborn, not willing to give up their power and position so easily. They gathered their magick for one last attack and with a shout sent it hurtling towards the dragon-snake. However, Slifer easily countered with a blast of its own magick, which easily overwhelmed theirs. Exhausted and drained, the four Elders collapsed onto their knees, panting heavily, their eyes seething with fury.  
  
Slifer tilted back its head and let out a mighty roar of triumph that shook the very walls of the castle. Yugi had to grab onto Yami's shoulders to keep his balance. He wondered what was going to happen next.  
  
Once Slifer had finished its triumphant roar, it looked back at the four fallen Elders. 'Do you admit defeat?' it asked in its rumbling voice.  
  
Pegasus glared up at the great red beast, gritting his teeth as he did so. He then looked passed the beast at the small group standing in the center of the room, and focused his attention on the yellow-eyed wolf. "You!" he seethed angrily. "You're the cause of all this!"  
  
The wolf shook her head. 'Wrong, Pegasus. You brought this all on yourself. You should have never messed with me and mine.'  
  
But Pegasus did not hear her. "Do you realize what you have done?" he continued furiously. "Do you realize the irreparable damage that you have caused by summoning the god-creature? You have doomed Arawn forever!"  
  
Yugi looked at Yami, confusion written all over his face. "What's he talking about, Yami?"  
  
The red-eyed wolf sighed. 'When we sacrificed our elemental powers to summon Slifer, we didn't just sacrifice our powers, but the powers of the Watchtowers as well.'  
  
Yugi gasped, widening his eyes. "You mean the Watchtowers are..."  
  
'Useless,' Yami finished for him.  
  
"Exactly!" Pegasus fumed. "And without the Watchtowers, then the gates between Arawn and other worlds cannot be controlled."  
  
The small boy remembered Yami telling him about the Watchtowers, how they acted as gateways or portals into and out of Arawn, and how it was the Guardians' responsibility to guard the Watchtowers from any unwanted intruders. Without the Watchtowers intact, then anything was free to exit, or enter, Arawn.  
  
Bakurian too realized this, and his ears pricked up with amusement. 'Well, Pegasus, looks like your little "prophesy" came true after all.' He chuckled lightly to himself.  
  
The Elder in turn glared at him. "What do you mean by that?"  
  
'You had prophesized that the so-called "Illuminites" would come and destroy Arawn. Well, it was because of them that Slifer was summoned. If you hadn't had them brought here in the first place, then there would have been no reason for us to sacrifice the powers of the Watchtowers to summon Slifer.' He tilted his head to one side in amusement, very much enjoying the stunned face of Pegasus. 'With the Watchtowers inactive, and your powers drained from the battle, Arawn's open to destruction by invaders. Prophesy fulfilled.'  
  
Pegasus narrowed his emotionless eyes at the group. "You will all PAY dearly for this! The portals are open, so return to your pathetic humans' world. I'll send every demon and vampire to hunt you all down! This...treachery will not go unpunished!"  
  
Yami took a few steps closer to him. 'First, you reverse the spells you have cast on Yugi and his friends. Then we'll gladly take our leave.' He knew only the Elders could reverse their own magicks.  
  
The Elder glared at him coldly. "And why should I help you?"  
  
A low rumbling came from the god-creature, and everyone turned to look at it. 'Because if you do not, then I'll bite your head off.'  
  
Pegasus considered his options, then suddenly grinned evilly. "Alright, I'll return the humans to their original states. But not without a price of course. After all, nothing comes without a price."  
  
The god-creature nodded. 'Indeed. Such is the way of the worlds.'  
  
Yami narrowed his eyes. He had a feeling this was coming. 'Name your price then.'  
  
"In return for the humans gaining back their true human form, you former Guardians must give up your human forms. Human by day, wolf by night, you will no longer be able to freely change between the two forms. Do we have a deal?"  
  
The four wolves gathered together, talking quietly amongst themselves. 'We don't have much of a choice, now do we?' Raven asked.  
  
'Are you serious?' Marius groaned. 'We've already given up our positions as Guardians, our powers. Now we have to give up our ability to change as we please?'  
  
Yami nodded. 'Unless you want Marik to forever live with that tail of his.'  
  
Marius growled. 'Fine, fine. I'll do it.'  
  
'Bakurian?' Raven turned towards the wolf.  
  
He thought for a moment. Personally, he liked the human better with the added feature. But he figured the human didn't like it so much, and wouldn't quite match with his world. The fact that he actually cared about what the human felt surprised him greatly. Grrr...stupid human. Always messing with his feelings and stuff. Finally, he nodded his head. 'Yeah yeah, I'm in,' he muttered.  
  
Raven nodded. 'Good.' She looked at the Elder. 'It's a deal then.'  
  
Pegasus smiled to himself. The former Guardians probably had thought that they would have a wonderful life with their precious humans. Well, now, this will certainly complicate things. And, he had a certain something extra planned for the former Guardians as well. Shakily, he rose to his feet, the other Elders following him. "It is agreed then. If you would all stand together then, we can begin the spell, so you can finally leave my sight already."  
  
Once the wolves and humans were standing together, the Elders closed their eyes, and began chanting in a low voice. Dark crystals began to form and surround the group of eight. Yugi shut his eyes tightly, pressing himself slightly against Yami for comfort. He didn't entirely trust Pegasus...  
  
As the Elders casted their spell, Slifer nodded and disappeared out of this world, and back to his own. His work was done, and it was extremely amusing. He should come back more often to cause trouble...  
  
There was a momentary blinding flash of light as the Elders finished their incantation, then it was gone. Yugi opened his eyes, hesitantly reaching up with both hands to his ears. He grinned, delighted, when he felt normal, smooth skin beneath his fingers. He turned a bit to look at his backside, relieved when he found that there was no longer a tail back there as well. He looked at Yami, still grinning.  
  
However, Yami was not as happy as Yugi was. True, Pegasus had for once kept his word, and Yugi and his friends were back to normal. But something did not feel quite right. He turned to Raven, who had a perplexed expression on her face as well. They caught each others' eyes, nodding immediately.  
  
Raven glared at Pegasus. 'Pegasus, you bastard, what else have you done to us?'  
  
Yugi's smile faded at her words.  
  
The Elder laughed. "I'm surprised you were able to tell so quickly. Yes, I did add a little extra something into the incantation. Another little consequence for your love." He grinned. "I've told you already, love can cause so much damage sometimes. And for love, you four have paid the ultimate price."  
  
A ticked off Kaiba stalked up to the Elder, roughly grabbing him by the collar of his robe and hoisting him into the air a few feet or so. "Pegasus!" he growled menacingly. "Whatever you've done to her, reverse it immediately, before I rip your throat out." He had had about enough of this jerk messing with Raven.  
  
Somehow, even though he was hanging by his collar, Pegasus managed to chuckle slightly. "Sorry, Kaiba-boy. But this curse cannot be lifted, nor can it be reversed. For how do you give back someone's immortality?"  
  
Kaiba widened his eyes in surprised, and he dropped the Elder back onto the floor with a soft thud. "What?" he muttered softly.  
  
Pegasus shrugged, grinning. "Of course, I could have one of my vampires change her into one of them. That would restore her immortality. Then again, I doubt she'd be quite the same as before..." He continued grinning.  
  
The tall boy was about to rush over to smash his fist into Pegasus's grinning face, but Raven stepped in between them. 'Let it go,' she said softly. 'It's better this way anyways.'  
  
Kaiba stared at her blankly, lowering his fist slowly.  
  
'Think about it. Now, I can spend one mortal life with you, instead of an immortal one without.' She looked over at Yami, who was staring, perplexed at her words. 'Well Yami, I was wrong. Looks like Pegasus helped us out after all. He solved the problem of our immortality and their mortality.'  
  
Yami nodded in understanding. 'Yes, now we don't have to worry about us not aging along with them.' He turned to Yugi, who was smiling gently. 'Now we can be together.'  
  
Pegasus was completely outraged at this turn of events. "WHAT?! You mean to tell me you're actually happy that I took away your immortality?"  
  
'Yes,' Raven replied. 'You've actually done us a favor. After all, only the Elders' magick could give us the mortal life that we desire.' Her eyes sparkled mischievously. 'Thank you Pegasus for helping us. And now, our business is concluded.' She closed her eyes, summoning her magick to open a portal to the human world.  
  
A dark mass started to form, slowly growing larger until it was big enough for them to go through. Raven opened her eyes, then looked at Kaiba. 'Let's go home.'  
  
As the group started to enter the portal, Pegasus thought of something and called out to them. "You haven't won yet, Raven! Now that you are mortal, my vampires and demons will have an easy time killing you off. You won't be able to protect yourselves or your precious humans! I will have my revenge after all!" He started to laugh insanely, but was cut short by Raven's words.  
  
'Don't be so certain, Pegasus. We have powers not even you know about. Attack if you dare...we'll be ready and waiting.' With that, Raven stepped into the portal, leaving behind a gawking Pegasus.  
  
A portal opened in the middle of Kaiba's spacious and well-furnished living room, and out walked its owner, followed by a golden-eyed wolf. The portal immediately closed up on itself. Kaiba glanced around the familiar surroundings, and breathed a sigh of relief. At last, the nightmare was over, it seemed, and he was back home. Just like Raven had promised. A hand drifted up to the water-pendant still hanging around his neck. A reminder that it wasn't just a nightmare after all.  
  
With a sigh, Kaiba collapsed onto his leather sofa, leaning back into the soft cushions. The cushions shifted a bit as Raven climbed up next to him, resting her head in his lap. Kaiba began to absent-mindedly stroke her fur with one hand. Oh, if Mokuba came down at this moment, he'd have a bit trouble explaining why there was a wolf with him on the couch, and why she wasn't trying to eat him or something. He'd have to explain about Raven eventually, but he figured he'd deal with it later. Now, he just wanted to relax.  
  
'What time is it?' Raven asked quietly.  
  
Kaiba checked the gold and silver clock hanging on the wall. "Four- thirty...in the morning." He paused. "How long were we in Arawn?"  
  
'Arawn's time is different then in your world. Slower. One day there could only be a few hours here.'  
  
"So you mean, in my time, we've only been gone for several hours? Not even a full night?"  
  
Raven sighed. 'Correct. So you haven't missed much in your world at all. Four-thirty you said? Still a few hours to sunrise then. I hope your little brother doesn't come down till then. I don't feel much like explaining all this to him.'  
  
Kaiba smiled. "It might take a while, but I think he'll understand. He probably even think it's cool. He'll beg you to tell him everything you know about vampires though." He chuckled lightly. "Won't he be surprised when he finds out that his big brother actually met two, and killed one?"  
  
The wolf laughed a bit to herself. There was a long silence before either of them spoke.  
  
"So..." Kaiba started. "Is it over now?"  
  
Raven sighed again. 'It will take a while for the Elders to regain their strength. With the Watchtowers gone, they'll now have to worry about attackers from other worlds as well. But eventually, they'll seek their revenge.' She felt the boy tense up a bit, so she quickly reassured him. 'But don't worry. Yami and I can handle it. And I won't let them harm either you or Mokuba.'  
  
Kaiba nodded. "Thank you Raven. For everything. You've done so much for me already...thank you."  
  
Raven shifted so that she could gaze into Kaiba's deep blue eyes. 'No, thank you Seto. For it was you who helped me to finally move on with my life. Thank you for helping me to live again.'  
  
Meanwhile, Yami and Yugi were resting peacefully back at Yami's apartment. The candles were still burning brightly, even after all those hours. Since he no longer had his Fire powers, Yami knew it was about time he and Raven invested in more...modern lighting, as much as they didn't like it. After all, they didn't exactly want to light hundreds of candles each day. It would be a rather big change. Then again...their whole life had now changed. For the better, he thought.  
  
Yugi was sitting on the couch, while Yami had stretched out on it, using his lap as his pillow. The wolf noticed Yugi was a bit concerned about something, and twisted his head a bit so that he could gaze up at him. 'Yugi, what troubles you? Raven and the others all made it safely home. They were just sent back to whatever place the portal had taken them to Arawn from. Your friends are probably just down the hall then.'  
  
The small boy shook his head. "I know Yami, you told me that already. I was just thinking how much trouble I'm going to be when I go home. My Grandpa's probably going crazy with worry over me!"  
  
Yami laughed a bit. 'Just tell him you were studying at my place, and you fell asleep. As soon as it's daybreak, I can take you home on my bike.'  
  
Yugi remembered his last ride on the bike, and smiled a bit. "I'll probably be grounded for the rest of the school year..."  
  
The wolf grinned to himself. 'Oh goody, then I can come and sneak you out of your room at night.'  
  
The boy playfully bopped the wolf on his head. "Yami!" he laughed. "You're such a bad influence. Next you'll tell me to skip classes tomorrow and hang out with you."  
  
'Not a bad idea. I am tired after all.' He looked at Yugi with sad, pitiful eyes.  
  
Yugi had to laugh at the look, before finally caving in. "Alright, alright! I guess skipping classes for one day wouldn't be so bad. Though then Grandpa would probably then ground me for the next year."  
  
'Who said he'd have to find out? School records are quite easy to manipulate, you know.'  
  
"Yami!" He paused for a moment. "You're gonna ruin my good reputation, you know that?"  
  
The wolf shrugged a bit. 'Can I help it if I find school so tedious and boring? I know I've only been there for two days, but already, it's quite bothersome. Then again, since you'll be there, it might not be so bad...'  
  
Yugi laughed and leaned down to embrace the wolf in a hug. "I'm so glad everything worked out alright," he whispered into the wolf's ear, suddenly serious. "Thank you for all that you've done. I know that you sacrificed a lot for me, including giving up your home. Thank you."  
  
'For you, Yugi, I'd sacrifice the whole world, and my life with it. Because when I'm with you, it feels like I am truly home at last.'  
  
THE END  
  
Aww....such a sweet, sappy-ish kinda ending. Or, at least I tried to make it like that. So ends Guardians of the Watchtowers. Eh, I know. My writing is not that great, and I probably need to organize better. But thanks so much to all of you who stuck with the story to the end, and especially to those who reviewed. You guys are awesome!!  
  
Translations:  
  
Pelekta yassen i'handele!! : Mind blast!!  
  
So, you guys think this story should have a sequel? I haven't quite worked it all out, but here's the gist of it: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (she'd still be in high school) comes to town with her buddies, looking to stop the big evil that's forming (ie the Elders being pissed and wanting to destroy the humans' world for basically destroying theirs). Anyways, I think what's going to happen is that Buffy falls for Yami the boy, while she wants to kill Yami the wolf, seeing as how she doesn't know they are the same. And that's gonna make Angel (Buffy's vampire boyfriend) really angry. That should be fun. Other "pairings" could be Faith (the other Slayer) going after Kaiba, Xander (Buffy's dorky friend) going after Raven, and Willow (Buffy's Wicca friend) going after Yugi. Lots of mix-ups, I know. If you've never watched BtVS, or have watched very little, don't worry. I'll explain what's needed to understand the story. Heck, it's been a while since I've seen the show myself, especially the high school seasons. So I'll probably end up making some stuff up anyways. shrugs  
  
Anyways, sound interesting though? Let me know what you think. Thanks so much again for reading my story!!  
  
Till next time! 


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